In Her Shadow
by defused
Summary: Nothing ever happened in Beacon Hills. Or so Nora believed. Strange things begin to happen in the small town and Nora finds herself mixed up in the chaos as a new friendship blossoms. Will Nora finally be able to emerge from the shadow of her best friend, Lydia Martin, as she learns the truth about Beacon Hills? Based on Season 1 of MTV's Teen Wolf.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations_

"Um hello? Earth to Nora!" A petite strawberry blonde girl said as tossed a brown suede bootie at Nora who was sitting on the bed.

"Ugh, Lydia! Those things are like weapons!" Nora said as she narrowly avoided the shoe. She closed the book she had been reading to give a dirty look to her friend.

"Well if you could please focus! This is important and I need you!" Lydia spat back with desperation.

Tomorrow was the start of the girls' sophomore year and Lydia was in full-on freak out as she tried to decide her outfit.

"So what do you think of this?" Lydia held up a high-waisted plaid skirt and a blue sweater.

"It's perfect. You'll look amazing, as always." Nora responded, already exhausted from the conversation. Her response didn't seem to appease Lydia. She threw down the outfit and began to shuffle through the clothes hanging in her enormous closet once more.

Nora glanced down at her cell phone, checking the time. "Look, Lydia. I don't know why you even ask for my opinion. Clearly, style is not my strong suite." She said as she gestured to her outfit. A pair of jean shorts and a simple black tee.

Nora, unlike Lydia, preferred to spend the minimum amount of time on her clothing. She was a t-shirt, jeans and converse kind of girl. It drove Lydia crazy, but she had long since given up on trying to convince Nora to wear anything else.

"Well, Lydia, it's been real. I need to get home before Sal orders a search party. I'll see you tomorrow!" And with a wave, Nora made her exit.

Nora moved into her aunt and uncle's house four years prior. Her mother passed away from breast cancer that summer and she had never known her father. Her mother's brother, Sal and his wife, Tanya, graciously opened up their home to the newly-orphaned girl. Sal and Tanya did not have any children of their own, but they were naturals at parenting. Her mother could never be replaced, but Nora found Sal and Tanya to be the next best thing.

Sal spent most of his adult life as a detective working on cases all over Northern California. After he met Tanya, the two settled in Beacon Hills where Tanya was a teacher at the elementary school. Beacon Hills was, for the most part, a quiet town with very little crime. And although that made residing in Beacon Hills preferable, it was not the best place for a detective to find work. Sal continued to travel, working on cases in more crime-ridden cities. This meant that he was away from home quite a bit. Somehow, this didn't stop Sal from being an overbearing and overprotective parent. Nora was to be home by 9 pm every night. Tanya, the more care-free of the two, was a little more flexible with the curfew time. Tonight, however, Sal was home, which meant Nora, too, needed to be home.

Nora didn't mind the imposed curfew, but she often wished Sal would lighten up. Nothing ever happened in Beacon Hills.

As Nora pulled into the drive way, she saw a worried looking Sal emerge from inside. She looked at the clock in the car, which read 8:46. Furrowing her brow, Nora climbed out of the car.

"I'm not late! Stop looking at me like that!" Nora said as she walked up to the house.

"I know, Nora. It's just…" Sal hesitated. "…there was a body found in the woods today."

"What!? And here I was thinking nothing exciting ever happened in Beacon Hills!" Nora said entering the house.

"Nora! This is nothing to joke about! The killer is still out there!" Sal growled.

"Sorry. I know this is serious." Nora could tell Sal was worried.

Nora began to climb the stairs when Sal said, "Nora. Just promise me to stay away from the Preserve. Just in case."

"Yeah, sure. It'll be tough though. You know me, the woods and I are like this." Nora said as she held up her hand to shown her pointer and middle finger twisted together. Sal laughed without feeling. Nora couldn't go two minutes without a sarcastic remark.

Upstairs in her bedroom, Nora collapsed on her bed. She grabbed her phone from her bag to send a text to Lydia about the body in the woods. "Sal said they found a body on the preserve today. Wth!" she typed. Picturing Sal's concerned face, she groaned. His overprotective nature was only going to worsen. She laughed coldly at herself. Someone had been murdered and here she was mourning what little freedom she had. 'Award for most coldhearted goes to Nora' she thought to herself.

...

A loud beeping awoke Nora the next morning. Groaning, she swatted several times at the alarm clock trying to make the noise stop. Finally, she made contact with the correct button and the beeping stopped, allowing Nora to fall back onto her mattress. The peace did not last long as her door busted open showing a bright faced Tanya. Tanya flipped the light switch, illuminating Nora's room with light. "Up and at 'em, kid! You've got school!" Tanya announced cheerily.

'Ugh morning people.' Nora thought. Wrestling with the covers for a second, she swung her feet to the side of the bed and gingerly stood up. Rubbing her eyes, she made her way to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

After showering, she quickly blow-dried her blonde hair. She applied a minimal amount of makeup. Stepping back, she took a long look at her appearance in the mirror. The black liner on her eyes made her blue-green eyes seem less tired, she decided. 'That'll do.' Nora said aloud to herself. She had been compared to her best friend Lydia for as long as she knew her. Nora told herself she didn't mind, but living in Lydia's shadow was not always easy. Lydia was beautiful and had incredible fashion sense. Nora supposed she herself could be considered pretty, if not standing next to Lydia, that is. Nora could have tried harder with her clothes and appearance, but at what cost? She didn't want to compete with her best friend – especially when she knew she would lose.

Dressed in dark indigo jeans rolled up slightly and a grey v-neck, she headed downstairs with her white converse and school bag in hand. After a quick breakfast of a toasted bagel and cream cheese, she climbed into her white Toyota Camry and headed to school.

Nora pulled into a vacant parking space and made her way to the front of the school where Lydia was waiting, looking impatient.

"Seriously, Nora, must you always be late?" Lydia tutted.

"It's 8:40. Class doesn't start until 9." Nora gave a pointed look to the strawberry blonde.

"Yeah, but I'm supposed to meet Jackson before class." Lydia responded as if it were obvious. Nora rolled her eyes. Lydia and Jackson were pretty inseperable. Nora herself didn't really know about relationships. Her one and only "relationship" had occurred in elementary school and lasted a week. Nora didn't think that really counted.

Sighing, she linked arms with Lydia and headed towards the school.

"… best thing that's happened to this town since… since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey Lydia, you look…look like you gonna ignore me." A boy – Stiles Stilinski – said as the two marched by.

"Lydia, seriously? You could at least say hi" Nora said to her friend and she looked behind her shoulder to give Stiles an apologetic look. She'd never really spoken to the him, but it was clear by his lingering glances and attempts at getting Lydia's attention that he was in love with her and had been for as long as Nora could remember.

"To who?" Lydia said looking confused. The thing about Lydia was she often came across as a total bitch. Nora knew better. Lydia's parents divorced when she was in middle school. Nora hadn't known the girl for very long, but one day while hanging out, Lydia broke down in tears. She confessed how she felt about their divorce and how her dad decided that was a get out of jail free card. She had barely heard from the man since he'd moved out of their family home. But, as soon as the break down had begun, Lydia wiped her eyes and changed the subject.

For the next week, Nora would ask Lydia how she was feeling. All attempts were meet with 'I'm fine, Nora!' Eventually, Nora stopped asking. Since then Lydia had put on even more layers of protection. Now, she had created an image for herself – the wealthy, popular, beautiful, and ditsy Lydia Martin with her all-star lacrosse player boyfriend. Talking to people like Stiles was not good for said image. In all honesty, Nora felt bad for the boy. Stiles, although kind of socially awkward, was genuinely kind.

The two girls entered the school and Lydia made a beeline for her locker. Nora, seeing Jackson waiting with his signature smirk, opted to head straight for her first class.

Nora took a open seat near the front of the classroom. "As you all know, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night." Her English teacher began, never once looking away from the chalkboard he was writing on. "I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody, which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining the semester."

Nora's face contorted into a confused look. She was relatively sure the police had not found a suspect yet. Sal was just as relentless this morning about the whole ordeal. Nora had barely looked down at the syllabus before the classroom door opened. The vice principal entered, followed by a tall slender girl. She had long dark brown curly hair and porcelain colored skin. Nora had to admit the new girl was really pretty.

"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome." He announced and the girl – Allison – promptly took an empty seat behind Scott McCall.

...

"That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?" Lydia asked. They had made it through the first day back and Nora was opening her locker while Lydia chatted up the new girl.

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco." Allison returned.

"And you just became my new best friend" Lydia said pointing at Allison and giving a quick smirk to Nora, who rolled her eyes. A second later, Jackson arrived and Lydia waited all of two seconds to plant a kiss on his lips. Nora chose this moment to look away, hoping her face didn't echo her feeling of disgust. Jackson, quite frankly, was an asshole and Lydia could do so much better. Nora decided Jackson must have some redeeming qualities because Lydia seemed to really love him.

"So this weekend, there's a party." Lydia started.

"A party?" Repeated an unsure Allison.

"Yeah, Friday night. You should come." Jackson said.

"Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday." Nora looked at Allison solemnly. Lydia and Jackson could be a little overbearing. Heck, if Lydia didn't know Nora so well, she too would have come up with an excuse to avoid the upcoming party.

The four headed out to the lacrosse field, Lydia dragging Allison by the hand. Lacrosse was a big deal in Beacon Hills. Mostly because there was nothing really to do in Beacon Hills on a Friday night, but also because the team was pretty good. Even practices drew a crowd.

Nora, Allison and Lydia sat down in the bleachers onlooking the field.

"Nora!" Coach Finstock yelled, startling her. "Come here!" Confused, Nora headed towards the field.

"Um, yes Coach?" Nora said timidly. Coach Finstock could be really intense. Nora backtracked through the day trying to remember if she'd done anything. She came up blank.

"Have you given any thought to which AP classes you'd want to take next year?" He said to her. Nora relaxed. Each student was assigned a teacher to be their academic adviser and Coach Finstock was hers.

"Shouldn't we be having this conversation in your office or something?" Nora asked.

Coach just shrugged. "I'm multitasking, Nora. It's what incredibly amazing teachers slash coaches do..Hold on a sec. McCall! You're in goal."

"I've never played" Scott responded looking hesitant.

"I know. Scoring some points will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing! Get 'em energized…fired up!" Coach said enthusiastically.

"What about me?" Scott said looking even more worried by the second.

"Try not to take any in the face." Coach said as he lightly slapped Scott's face. Finstock blew his whistle signaling to the team to huddle up around him.

"Coach?" Nora asked, unsure if their conversation was over.

"Hold on Nora, I'm not done talking to you yet." Coach returned as the players made their way over to where they were standing.

Stiles jogged up next to her holding his lacrosse stick in front of him, almost hitting Nora when she turned her head.

"Oops, sorry." Stiles said to her as he pulled the stick in close to his body. "Hey Nora, are you trying out for Lacrosse?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'm wearing the right outfit… what do you think?" She said and gestured to her clothes.

Stiles looked down at her jeans and converse. "Right. That was a dumb question." Nora's mouth formed a grin, which Stiles returned hesitantly.

Nora waited patiently while Coach gave the boys huddled around him the best pep talk he could muster. Nora wasn't sure it was very inspirational since it was mostly filled with phrases like "Don't suck".

With another blow of his whistle, the gaggle of boys spread out and began a drill. He turned to her.

"Okay, Nora. Where were we? … Right, AP classes."

"Coach, it's literally the first day of school and you are asking me about next year?" Nora groaned.

"Hmm. Well think about it. I'm trying to get my advising work done early this year so I can ignore you kids next semester." He laughed at himself.

Nora gave him look and walked back to the bleachers to watch the rest of the try-out.

"Who is that?" Allison asked looking at Scott standing in the goal.

"Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?" Lydia gave her a puzzled look.

Allison shrugged and said, "He's in my English class."

Nora turned to Allison. "That's Scott McCall. Lydia, he's gone to school with us forever."

"Hmpf" was Lydia's only response.

As the practice progressed, it became clear that Scott was definitely someone to be remembered. In the goal, he caught every ball shot at him, even the one by Jackson. Jackson, on top of being an asshole, was incredibly competitive. Matters were only made worse when Lydia jumped up to cheer as Scott caught Jackson's ball. Nora couldn't recall Scott even playing in any of the games the previous year. 'Maybe he got bit by a radioactive spider' she thought. Catching herself, she looked to Lydia, afraid she could somehow read minds. Lydia would've hated the joke. It hinted at the nerdier side of Nora that Lydia was determined to keep hidden.

Lydia stayed behind to wait for Jackson as Allison and Nora headed towards the parking lot and their respective cars.

When Nora got home, she was surprised to see Sal's car still parked in the drive way. He had been home for two weeks now. Usually, he would have been gone on another case by now.

She entered the house and smelled food cooking in the kitchen. Sal sat watching TV on the couch in the living room. Letting out a breath, Nora plopped down beside him.

"Hey Nor. How was school?" Sal asked.

"Torturous. Can you believe Coach Finstock asked me about what AP classes I am going to take next year?" Nora said incredulously.

"That seems like a compliment if you ask me." Sal shrugged.

"I would've thought so too, but turns out he is just trying to avoid doing it in the spring…" Nora turned back to the TV which was set to a news channel. "Are they talking about the dead body? Speaking of which, why are you still home? Shouldn't you be on a new case?"

"Actually, the Sheriff called me today and asked if I'd give him a hand with the murder case." Sal responded. "Looks like you're stuck with me for a while, kid."

"Sheriff…Stilinski, right?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, why?" Sal looked questioningly at her.

"Oh, I just know his son…Stiles." She said, getting up to see what Tanya was cooking.

"Mm, smells good! What are we having?" Nora said as she entered the room. Tanya turned around and Nora stopped dead seeing what she was wearing.

"Where did you get that blouse?" Nora asking trying to keep her voice even.

Tanya looked down at the blouse. "Oh... It was in some of your mom's stuff. .It's just been sitting in the garage for years. I'm sorry I didn't know you'd mind." She looked at her niece with a look of sincerity.

"You have no right to wear that! It was hers!" Nora lost the battle and her voice rose as she spoke. Hot tears fell from her eyes. Nora turned on her heel and ran out the kitchen. She flew open the front door and started running down the street, ignoring Sal's calls.

Eventually, the tears ran out and Nora stopped running. She looked around and saw dense trees. She had unknowingly ran into the very forest Sal asked her to stay away from. 'Nice going Nora!' She thought. She turned around and headed in the opposite direction and hoped that was the way out of the forest in which people were murdered in.

Nora stopped in her tracks, hearing voices. "I know! You're a werewolf, grrr!" She recognized that voice.

"Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's cause Friday is a –" Stiles stopped seeing Nora as he and Scott approached.

"Uh hey Nora. What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I could ask you two the same question." And suddenly it hit her. They were looking for the body. "Are you guys looking for the dead body? I'm pretty sure the police would have removed it by now. I'm surprised you didn't know that Stiles, with your dad being the Sheriff and all." She said crossing her arms across her chest.

"Right, your dad is working on the investigation now." Stiles said.

"Uh my uncle. But yeah, he is." Nora said wondering if he really did know everything about the police department of Beacon Hills.

Stiles looked uncomfortable, but continued. "Well, anyway, he probably didn't want to tell you because it's pretty gruesome. But they only found half of a girls' body. And Scott, here, found the second half last night." He said proudly grabbing Scott's shoulder.

"So you two are coming to get a better look?" She questioned the two boys as she narrowed her eyes. Nora didn't wait for them to answer. "Do you guys know which direction is out? I don't really feel like being the second victim."

They both pointed in different directions. "Great, really helpful thanks." She said sarcastically as she headed the way the boys came from.

As she passed them, Stiles' grabbed her wrist gently and she turned to face him. "Nora, have you been crying?" Stiles asked in a quiet voice.

Yanking her wrist from his grasp, she turned back. "Most definitely not!" She laughed without humor and quickly disappeared into the thick trees.

_Author's Note:_

_Well there she is in all her glory: the first chapter of my first fanfic. I envision Nora as girl in this picture ._

. . Google tells me she is Martina Dimitrova and she is apparently older than 16, but I think she looks like a teenager in this picture. Anywho, I'm not sure how often I'll update this story. Hope you enjoyed :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

It took Nora thirty minutes to find her way out of the thick trees. She silently cursed herself for being so emotional. She could have gotten seriously hurt running off like that. Thankfully, Nora made it out of the woods with merely two blisters on the back of her heels. Converse were not made to be ran in, she noted.

As her house came into view, she saw Sal's car gone from the driveway. He was probably wasting gas driving around looking for her. For the second time that evening, Nora cursed herself. She really needed to think things through.

Nora pushed open the front door. She saw her aunt sitting on the couch, staring into space. Nora noticed she was no longer wearing the blouse. Relief flooded Tanya's face when she saw Nora.

Before Nora could utter a single apology, Tanya pulled her into a crushingly tight hug. As they pulled apart, Nora began her apology. "Tanya, I am so sorry. That was unbelievably stupid of me to run off like that, especially over a stupid shirt."

"Oh honey, I'm so glad you are okay. I'm sorry too. I crossed a line wearing your mother's blouse." Tanya pulled her into another quick hug. "I need to call Sal. He is probably trying to convince the Sheriff to put out an APB on you."

It wasn't long before Sal was home, looking drained.

"I'm so sorry Sal!" Nora said, drawing out the "so" for a few seconds. "I'm an idiot and I need to learn to deal with my problems instead of running away from them." She finished.

Sal's response was a hug that was even tighter than Tanya's. Without a word, Sal broke the hug and began his ascent up the staircase, signaling he was heading to bed.

Nora heated up the dinner Tanya had saved her, grabbed her school bag and headed up to her bedroom to start on the pile of homework her teachers had assigned.

She sat down at her desk and took her phone out of her bag. 4 new text messages and 2 missed calls from Lydia. Nora dialed Lydia's number and braced herself for her wrath.

"NORA!" Lydia's voice screamed out the earpiece, causing Nora to pull the phone away from her ear. "What the hell! Why have you been ignoring me?" Lydia asked.

"I wasn't ignoring you. I... uh… went for a run." Nora told her.

"Since when do you run?" Lydia responded.

"Well it wasn't for exercise. I was running away…from my feelings…into the woods."

"The same woods were a girls' dead body was found? Nora, what were you thinking?" Lydia asked, scolding her.

"I know. It was stupid. Tanya was wearing a shirt of my moms. And well, naturally I ran away, instead of dealing with my feelings." Nora finished, feeling dejected.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lydia asked quietly.

"No." Nora told her quickly.

"Nora." Lydia responded.

"I mean the whole thing is really stupid. It's not like my mom needs it. Just seeing her wearing it…" She paused. "…it was like she was trying to replace her. It's stupid."

"No, it's not stupid. Your mom's possessions are an important way for you to remember her. Tanya should've have known to at the very least ask you before wearing it. I'm not saying running away was a good idea, but honestly if it were me I'd be upset too." Lydia said.

"Lydia, you are honestly the best. You always know exactly what to say. I should probably go though. I haven't even started on the English reading yet."

"Okay, bye Nor!" Lydia said and ended the call. With a groan, Nora opened _Catch-22_ to the assigned page.

...

_Nora found herself once again in the woods. It was incredibly dark; she had to squint to see the trees in her path. Moreover, a dense fog oozed along the frost bitten ground. The whole scene was eerie and Nora felt her heartbeat quicken and her palms sweat. Her foot caught on a thick branch and she fell forward, catching herself with her hands. A growl echoed across the woods. Nora's head snapped up and she caught sight of two red eyes not far from where she lay on the forest floor. She shuffled backwards on her butt. Her legs didn't seem to work anymore. The red eyes were closer than they were a moment ago. She could now see they belonged to a huge dark creature. It was on all fours, inching closer to her. Eyes widening, Nora racked her brain until she found a name for the giant beast: werewolf._

...

Nora awoke with a start. Her entire body was caked with sweat. Even her breath was labored. Taking a few deep breaths, Nora threw back the bedcovers. The alarm clock on her nightstand read 6:25 AM – an hour earlier than she normally woke up. Nora doubted she could go back to sleep with the adrenaline she felt after the dream. Instead, she hopped in the shower and tried to forget the paralyzing fear she had felt just moments before.

By the time Nora was ready for the day, she no longer felt the fear. What had seemed so terrifying in her nightmare, now seemed silly. With a laugh, she headed to the kitchen for some much needed food.

Tanya was sitting at the table sipping her cup of coffee. Seeing her, Nora suddenly remember she had yet to ask permission to go to Lydia's party that night.

"So favorite aunt of mine: I have a question for you." She began.

"I'm your only aunt." Tanya said pointedly.

"Right. Well, Lydia is having a party at her house tonight. Can I pretty please with sugar on top go?" Nora pleaded.

"I suppose its fine. Just keep your phone on and make sure you are home before midnight." Tanya replied. Nora was infinitely grateful she had encountered Tanya and not Sal. She doubted Sal would have agreed, especially after last night.

She placed a kiss on Tanya's cheek and headed off to school.

...

"So Family night is miraculously cancelled?" Lydia asked Allison with a suspicious look.

Nora gave Lydia a look that said "Don't." Allison had just informed Lydia and Nora that she would be in attendance at the party later that night. Apparently, the previous night she had accidently hit a dog and took it to the Beacon Hills veterinarian office where Scott McCall worked. Scott had asked Allison to go the party with him.

Lydia simply rolled her eyes at Nora and turned back to Allison. "Let's go, lacrosse tryouts are starting soon." She grabbed Allison and Nora each by the wrist, dragging them down the now empty hallway.

Nora pulled her wrist back. "Nope, count me out today."

"Fine, be a loser." Lydia shot back. The three separated ways as Nora headed to the parking lot and the other two towards the lacrosse field.

That afternoon Nora had intended to get a head start on the English reading for the week, but she found herself doing anything but. Instead, she watched several re-runs of the Big Bang Theory. She hadn't realized how long she'd been sitting there, when her phone rang.

"Hey Lydia. How was the rest of the tryouts?" Nora asked, answering the phone.

"Jackson made first line, of course. Scott McCall did too, actually. He was pretty amazing. He made this ridiculous shot. Naturally, Jackson is pissed. He's being completely unbearable at the moment. Oh and that guy Stiles asked about you."

"What do you mean asked about me?" Nora asked, feeling confused.

"He said, and I quote, 'Where is Nora?' And I said it was none of his business." Lydia told her simply.

"First off, manners! And secondly, that's kind of weird, don't you think? I barely know him." Nora said.

"Well you're hot Nora. It's not weird to have boys interested in you." Lydia said with a laugh.

"Ha!" She scoffed. "He is completely in love with you, not me!"

"Gross. Anyways, have you decided what you are wearing to my party? Please don't say what you wore to school today." Lydia asked.

"What was wrong with what I wore today!" Nora exclaimed.

"Well besides the obvious, you can't wear some that _casual_ to a party." Lydia responded, her voice thick with disgust. "You can borrow a dress if you want." She offered.

Nora decided it wasn't worth the battle. "Sure." She said simply. The two girls ended their conversation.

Nora laid back on her bed, spreading out her limbs. Lydia's interaction with Stiles left Nora feeling quite confused. Maybe Stiles just wanted to talk about the body in the woods or something. Regardless, the news left Nora with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach.

...

"Hmm. Let's try this." Lydia said, removing a dress from its hanger. Seeing the dress, Nora let out a groan. Lydia had chosen a tight low-cut peach colored dress. Begrudgingly, Nora pulled the dress over her head. It was an elastic material, but it required quite a bit of tugging to get it down to her thighs.

Nora turned to the full length mirror. The dress hugged all of her curves and accentuated her small waist. The tops of her breasts were exposed, showing Nora's pale skin.

With a smirk, Lydia said, "Hot damn. You should let me dress you more often." She winked at Nora and headed out the bedroom to the party happening downstairs.

Nora pulled at the hem of the dress, trying to make it cover more of her legs. She felt entirely exposed. With a sigh, Nora, too, headed downstairs. She had just reached the bottom step when the doorbell rang.

Nora pulled open the front door to reveal a tall, lanky boy. "Hey Stiles. You know you didn't have to ring the doorbell." She told him.

Stiles' eyes widened as he took in Nora's appearance. He started at her eyes and slowly made his way down stopping at her exposed legs. Nora couldn't tell if his reaction was a good one or a bad one. But having his eyes on her made her uncomfortable.

"Lydia dressed me." Nora said quickly. Stiles eyes snapped back up to hers for a second before a friend called him over, leaving Nora standing at the door awkwardly.

For much of the party, Nora leaned against a counter watching the crowds of teenagers. She scanned the room for Lydia or Allison, or anyone, to talk to. Allison was busy with Scott and Lydia was probably playing tonsil hockey with Jackson. Nora grimaced at the thought. Scanning the crowd once more, she settled on the back of a buzz cut head.

The loud music made it easy to sneak up on him. Nora clamped down on his shoulders with both of her hands. It had the desired effect – Stiles jumped, letting out a weird yelp.

Laughing, she navigated around the couch to sit next to Stiles as he recovered himself. "Sorry, that was too easy." She said smiling at him.

Stiles just looked at her incredulously. "So." She began. "I know Scott's secret." Nora said in a hushed voice, leaning in for dramatic effect. Stiles eyes widened and he stammered, "What? What secret? Scott has no secrets!"

Nora just laughed, wondering what Scott's real secret could be. "It's ok, Stiles. I know he was bitten by a radioactive spider." Stiles seemed to visibly relax. "So tell me, has Scott been swinging from any tall buildings from string he produces from his wrists?"

Stiles didn't miss a beat responding. "No, but he has been trying to avenge his uncle's death."

Nora laughed. After a moment, both were silent, each trying to think of something clever to say. Stiles was the first to speak. "You're not at all what I expected." He told her.

"What'd you expect?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, but definitely not a Spiderman reference." He said with a laugh.

"There is one thing you'll learn about me Stiles." She paused. Nora wasn't sure why she did it, maybe it was Lydia's dress boosting her confidence, but she leaned in close to him, just inches from his face. "I'm unpredictable." She said in a hushed voice, She got up from the couch, not wanting to see his reaction. She needed to get out of this dress, it was making her do weird things.

Before she could take a step, a body pushed into her. It was Scott, pushing his way through the crowd to the front door. "Where's the fire, Scott?" She called after him. Seconds later, Stiles was following him. As he passed by Nora, he gave her a look that she couldn't identify.

_Author's Note:_

_Comments/Critiques would be MUCH appreciated. Like I said this is my first fanficition so I'm not sure what I'm doing haha. Thank you for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

It was now the second week of school for Nora. The rest of her weekend had passed without incident. After a long day of balancing chemical equations and trying to allocate more space in her head for significant historical dates, Nora was more than ready for the final bell to ring. Lydia, Allison and Nora headed out to the lacrosse field to watch the team practice.

Nora was curious to see how Scott would perform during practice after such an incredible tryout the previous week. The practice had barely begun when she noticed Jackson. He was visibly irritated and seeming to be targeting Scott. Nora scoffed. Jackson was probably trying to prove that he was the best player on the team. Scott took a hard hit from Jackson, causing him to fall to the ground with a groan.

Coach Finstock didn't seem to notice Jackson's behavior. Instead, Nora could see him berating Scott's performance. "McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again!" Coach shouted.

This time, it wasn't Scott on the ground. Scott ran full-force towards Jackson, knocking him off his feet. Jackson clutched his right shoulder and howled in pain. The whole thing was a little on the dramatic side, Nora thought. Coach and the rest of the team ran to Jackson's side.

While everyone was crowded around Jackson, Nora noticed Scott and Stiles hunched together running off towards the school. She furrowed her brows and told her two friends, "I'll be right back."

Nora was nearing the boys' locker room when she heard a commotion. It wasn't a sound she was familiar with. She was about to enter the locker room, when she caught herself.

"Stiles? What happened?" She heard Scott say.

"You tried to kill me. It's like I told you before – it's the anger! It's your pulse rising – it's a trigger." Stiles said and Nora felt her breath catch.

"But it's lacrosse! It's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed!" Scott responded, frustrated.

"Well it's gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field. You can't play Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of the game." Stiles told him.

"I'm first line!" Scott said.

"Not anymore." Stiles responded. Nora was busy processing their conversation and hadn't realized they were coming towards her. Stiles rounded the corner, colliding with her. He grabbed her by the shoulders reflexively. Wide eyed, she looked up at him as he took a step back letting go of her shoulders.

"Nora! Hi. Have you been standing here long?" He asked, obviously nervous.

"Um, no. Just came to see if Scott was okay. He hit Jackson pretty hard." Nora's response came quickly, quicker than she meant it to. Nora was not a good liar.

Scott emerged from the locker room behind Stiles, looking just as panicked as Stiles. "I'm good. We should get back to practice." He said and the two quickly walked in the direction of the lacrosse field.

After a moment, Nora decided to head home. She didn't want to face Scott or Stiles again. She couldn't even begin to understand the conversation she had overhead. Scott – a killer? It really didn't seem possible. She shook the thought away for another time.

….

The following day at school, Lydia and Allison were discussing a possible outing after the lacrosse game.

"It's settled then, you invite Scott." Lydia said and turned to Nora. "Nora, you're coming right?"

"Ha! And be a fifth wheel? Thanks, but I'd rather not." Nora responded.

"I'll tell Scott to invite Stiles! You can't be a fifth wheel if there are six wheels!" Allison said with a smile that Nora couldn't resist.

Nora finished grabbing her textbooks from her locker and shoved them into her bag. She was about to head to the parking lot when she noticed a familiar face, one that she didn't expect to see at school. Sal and Sheriff Stilinski were talking with the Principal.

Nora was only able to catch the tail end of the conversation. "We'd like to institute the curfew effective immediately." Sheriff Stilinski was saying. It was then that Sal seemed to notice her standing there. He pulled her away from the Sheriff and the Principal.

"Nora. This is official police business!" Sal said angrily.

"A curfew?" Nora asked.

"Yes, Nora. I suggested it to the Sheriff." Sal looked back at Sheriff Stilinski who had finished talking to the Principal. "I've got to go, Nora. See you at home." He said.

…

Nora had barely gotten up to her bedroom when her phone ranging, showing Lydia on the caller ID. "Separation anxiety much?" She said with a laugh as she answered the call.

"Please." Lydia scoffed. "I'm just bored. I'm at the hospital. Jackson is getting his shoulder checked out." She told her.

"Is he going to play on Saturday?" Nora asked.

"He better!" She answered.

Nora laughed. Leave it to Lydia to be worrying about the fate of the lacrosse game while her boyfriend was injured. It was all about status to her. If Jackson couldn't play in the game, the team might lose. Lydia did not date losers. "You know losing one game isn't that big of deal. Plus, we have Scott now. He is just as good as Jackson – maybe better if you ask me." She said. Memory of the locker room conversation made its way into the forefront of her consciousness.

"Nora, hold on. Gimme a second." Lydia said. "I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?" She said to someone else.

"Uh, no. Sorry." Nora heard a distant, but familiar voice say. "Tell Nora I said hi. I'm gonna sit…you don't care." Stiles finished, his voice fading away.

…

Nora awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. She looked to the clock. Seeing the time, she threw back the covers and ran to her dresser to quickly change her clothes – she was already extremely late for school. She had just pulled on a pair of jeans, when she remembered – it was Saturday. Groaning, she headed downstairs towards the wonderful smell of bacon.

Sal stood at the stove, watching the bacon. Nora also saw scrambled eggs and hash browns cooking on the other burners.

"Is it my birthday or something?" Nora asked. Breakfast this elaborate was a rarity, reserved for special occasions.

"I thought we could have a special day together- just you and me. Tanya is on a field trip with her class today." Sal said.

Honestly, that plan sounded wonderful to Nora. Recently, she'd noticed more of a divide between herself and Sal. It wasn't just her outburst the week before. Nora supposed she hadn't really spent much time home in a while. It didn't help that Sal was away most of the time too.

Sal and Nora's plans were cut short when Sal's phone rang. Nora could tell it was a work related call by his demeanor when he answered the call. Sal straightened up and said, "Sal Montgomery."

Nora leaned closer, trying to hear the conversation, but she had no such luck.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." Sal said and hung up. Looking at Sal with somber eyes, he said "Sorry, Nora. They found the other half of the body. I need to go check it out."

"Can I come?" Nora asked. Sal considered for a moment.

"Sure thing, kiddo." And the two headed to crime scene. She was surprised to pull up to a decrepit house that she could tell had been in a terrible fire. The forest had long since taken over the house. Vines crawled up the blackened walls and around the pillars holding up the porch.

"Woah, what happened here?" She asked, gesturing to the charbroiled house before them.

"That is the Hale house. There was a fire ten years ago – killed most of the family. I'll be right back. Stay here." Sal said through the window of the car.

Nora got out and leaned against the car door, watching Sal go. She saw an officer escorting a man out of the house and into a squad car. He was probably mid-twenties, with dark hair and chiseled features made even rougher by his stubble. Nora found herself momentarily distracted by the man's good looks. She shook her head once, remembering that he murdered the girl in the woods.

She heard someone approaching from behind her. Stiles stealthily approached the police car and got in the front seat. He looked like he was having a heated discussion with the murder suspect.

Nora laughed as Sheriff Stilinski yanked open the front passenger side door and pulled his son out by his jacket.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the Sheriff asked.

"I'm just trying to help!" Stiles shot back.

"Okay, well how about you help me understand exactly you came across this?" Sheriff Stilinski said.

"We were looking for Scott's inhaler."

"Which he dropped when?" Sheriff Stilinski inquired.

"The other night!" Stiles exclaimed.

"The other night when you were out looking for the first half of the body."

"Yes!" Stiles answered, rolling his eyes.

"The night you told me you were alone and Scott was at home?" the Sheriff asked.

"Yes! Ugh, no! Ah, crap!" Stiles exclaimed, realizing his mistake.

"So you lied to me?"

"That depends on how you define lying." Stiles said.

"Well I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?" Sheriff asked.

"Reclining your body in horizontal positon?" Stiles answered. Nora let out a loud laugh.

"Get the hell out of here!" The Sheriff said, looking exasperated.

"Absolutely!" Stiles said and quickly hurried away. Nora raised an eyebrow as he saw her.

She crossed her arms across her chest and shook her head at him. "Got caught in a lie there, Stilinski?" She said with a laugh.

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you so much for the follows! Again, please comment or critique! I would REALLY appreciate the input!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

"Hey, Sal? Do you want to go to the lacrosse game with me?" Nora asked. After visiting the Hale house, Sal went immediately into his office to pour over the case. Piles of papers and manila folders were spread out haphazardly across his desk.

"You know, that sounds great. I could use a break." He said, looking around at the mess of papers.

Within minutes of the games' start, Nora noticed Jackson and the rest of team seemed to be pretending Scott didn't exist. Scott would be open, but his teammates still wouldn't give the ball to him – even if it meant losing the ball to the other team. It was all very irritating to Nora who assumed it was Jackson's plan. The idea wasn't that farfetched since Jackson was team captain and called the shots. Not to mention, he had a deep hatred for Scott and his newfound abilities.

A few plays later, Scott had had enough. Before another player could get to the ball, Scott was there. He completed an incredible jump over the opposing player, scooping the ball out of the air. Scott expertly dodged each player that came at him as he made his way towards the goal. With ease, Scott shot the ball into the net and scored a much-needed point for Beacon Hills.

"Pass to McCall! Pass to McCall!" Nora could hear Coach yelling. The opposing team seemed to heed his message as one player deliberately passed the ball to Scott. With less than a minute left, Scott shot the ball into the goal, tieing the game. It was hard to see clearly from where Nora sat, but she thought the ball had gone through the lacrosse sticks' net, ripping a hole in its wake.

With 15 seconds left to go, Scott seemed to freeze up. For a moment, Nora thought she could see Scott's eyes flicker to a yellowish color. She shook her head and laughed at the thought. It was probably a trick of the light. Hesitating no more, Scott shot the ball into the goal with incredible speed. The ball was a blur as it hit the net. Beacon Hills had won!

Nora jumped up and down slightly as she cheered with the rest of the crowd. After a few minutes, Nora and Sal made their way down the bleachers. Sal turned to go towards the car, but Nora stopped him. "I want to say something to a friend" Nora said, eyeing a very excited Stiles.

"Hey, great game!" Nora said with a huge grin.

"Yeah!" Stiles said enthusiastically, holding his hand up for a high five which Nora returned after a moment. Sal had just made his way over to where Stiles was standing. Stiles' eyes shifted nervously from Nora to her much larger guardian.

"Stiles, this is my uncle, Sal. Sal, this is my friend Stiles." Nora introduced.

"Ah yes, Stiles. I hear from your father you are quite the… vigilante." Sal said with a smirk. "You better not let that rub off on my Nora."

Stiles paled and his eyes bulged slightly. "He's kidding, Stiles." Nora told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Stiles didn't seem to relax and if anything seemed more nervous by her touch. Nora removed her hand quickly as Sheriff Stilinski joined their small group.

"Oh hi there, Sal. And this must be Nora." The Sheriff said noticing them. "She's beautiful, Sal. You must have trouble keeping the boys away from this one!" He said with a chuckle after looking Nora over.

"Dad!" Stiles shot at his father with wide eyes that were shifting from the Sheriff to Nora, and back.

"Actually, John. Nora's never brought any boys home. Makes my job easy!" Sal responded. It was Nora's turn to be embarrassed. She widened her eyes as she shook her head at her uncle.

"Well, I think that is our que to go." Nora turned, trying to pull Sal with her.

"Actually, Sal. I just got a call from the coroner." The Sheriff said. Nora stopped pulling. Her curiosity overtook her previous embarrassment. Stiles seemed to feel the same and he looked at his father expectantly. "He identified the girl as Laura Hale."

"—Derek's sister?" Stiles interrupted, earning a glare from his father.

"Yes, his sister. He determined her death was caused by a wolf due to the hairs we found. I have to release Derek Hale." Sheriff Stilinski finished, looking like that was the last thing he wanted to do. "Look, I'll let you two go. We can talk about this on Monday. Goodnight."

Later that evening, Nora was on her way to the kitchen for a snack, when she noticed the light on in Sal's office. She quietly opened the door and poked her head in.

"Sal?" She asked. He was sitting at his desk – the papers and folders looking even messier than they had earlier. "You still working? It's late." Nora asked, concern in her voice.

"Yeah. I was so sure Derek Hale had something to do with it. And there aren't wolves in California. It just doesn't make any sense." Sal responded as he slammed his palms on the edge of the desk.

Nora placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "You'll figure it out."

…

On Sunday, Nora was putting away some freshly washed clothes in her closet when she noticed a worn cardboard box hidden beneath a few of her heavier winter coats. "Mom's stuff" was written on the side in permanent marker by a 12-year-old Nora. She finished hanging the remaining items and pulled the box out of her closet. She sat on the floor and positioned the box in front of her.

With a deep breath, Nora pulled on the packaging tape and opened the box. It had been four years, but she remembered packing the box. It held her mother's more personal belongings – a journal she kept, a box of cards from past birthdays and holidays, and the like. Cringing, Nora picked up a horribly constructed clay coil pot that she had made in Ceramics class. Nora had given the pot to her as a Mother's day present. She smiled as she turned the pot over and saw "I love you Mom" carved into the bottom. Next, Nora opened an ornate dark wooden jewelry box. There were many earrings, a few rings and bracelets. But what caught Nora's eye was a small gold pendant the size of a nickel. She ran her finger over the unusual design – three spirals connecting at a center point.

…

The next morning, as Nora arrived at school, she noticed the parking lot she usually parked in was blocked off by yellow crime scene tape. She instead parked in the front lot, and walked through the school to see the reason for the lot's blockage.

Nora saw a yellow school bus with uniformed police officers crawled around and inside the bus, taking photographs. The door had been bent at an odd angle and hanging by a single hinge. The door and the outside of the bus were smeared with dark red blood. Nora sucked in a breath, realizing the blood formed hand prints. She jumped slightly as a voice boomed overhead from the speakers on the wall of the school.

"_Attention students, this is your principal. I know you are all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled. Thank you."_

Wide-eyed, Nora turned away from the gruesome scene and headed to class.

…

"Mr. Stilinksi. If that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes? Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." Her chemistry teacher, Mr. Harris said. Scott and Stiles had been whispering animatedly about the bus incident while the rest of the class worked on the in-class assignment.

Stiles picked up his books and moved to the empty seat next to Nora, audibly grumbling, while Scott moved to the front of the classroom. Nora looked back down at the problem set she was working on, when yet another distraction came.

"Hey I think they found something!" A classmate shouted as she ran to the window, followed by the rest of the class. The class watched as paramedics quickly pushed a stretcher out of the woods. It was carrying a man with ripped clothing and covered in blood. He appeared to be dead. Nora closed her eyes, not wanting to look. Her eyes snapped open when she heard the high pitched screams echo across the classroom. The man had sat up for just a moment, before collapsing back on the stretcher.

"This is good. This is good. He got up. He's not dead. Dead guys can't do that." She heard Stiles say quietly.

"Stiles, I did that!" Scott said back to him. Nora had, until this moment, completely forgotten about the locker room conversation. Scott truly didn't seem capable of such a malicious crime, but that was twice now that Scott had admitted to being capable. After a moment, the class settled back down into their seats. Nora kept sneaking glances at Stiles, trying to will herself to start the conversation. She pulled nervously at her Mom's pendant around her neck.

Finally, she said, "Psst. Stiles. I need to talk to you about something. It's about Scott." Just then, the bell rang, signaling it was now lunch period.

"Scott? Yeah, Scott is Spiderman, remember?" Stiles said quickly and laughed. Nora watched as Scott looked over at them. Stiles made a flailing gesture at him, which seemed to mean Scott should leave. Stiles turned back to her, waiting.

"It's not that. That day during lacrosse when I was outside the locker room, I said I hadn't been standing there long. But…" She paused, biting her lip. "I heard Scott say he was worried about hurting someone during the game. I forgot about it until now, but then Scott said he did that to the guy in the bus and that's twice now." Nora spat out, rambling.

"No, no! Scott's been having problems with aggression and he was afraid he was going to hurt someone during the game. And you misheard about the guy on the bus. Scott…uh… had a dream where he killed a guy like that. He's…uh…psychic…sometimes." Stiles stammered. "I promise, Nora. He's wouldn't hurt a fly." Stiles left her sitting in the chemistry room with an unsure look on her face. Eventually, Nora's stomach growled and she headed towards the cafeteria.

When she entered, Nora noticed her friends weren't sitting at their usual table. She scanned the room for Lydia and Allison. Interesting enough, she found them sitting with Scott and Stiles. Nora made an effort to sit as far away from Scott as she could. She was still processing what Stiles had said. She didn't really believe the psychic excuse, but she refused to believe that Scott brutally attacked the man on the bus. Regardless, she wasn't sure she was ready to be close to him.

The group – Scott, Stiles, Allison, Lydia, Jackson and Jackson's friend, Danny – were having a discussion about what happened to the man.

"Who cares? The guy was probably just some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyways." Jackson said maliciously.

"Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out." Stiles said, looking up from his phone screen. He held up his phone for everyone as a video began to play.

"_The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details, but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, survived the attack. Myers was taken to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition."_

"I-I know this guy!" Scott said, eliciting a "You do?" from Allison. "Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver!"

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lydia said. "Like…where are we going tomorrow night? You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?" She asked looking at Scott and Allison.

"Uhh, we were thinking of what we were going to do." Allison answered.

"Well I am not sitting home watching lacrosse videos. So if the five –" She looked at Nora, who furiously shook her head. She refused to be a fifth wheel. "—the _four_ of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun!" Lydia finished.

"H-hanging out? Like the four of us? Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?" Scott looked as if he most certainly did _not _want to "hang out".

"Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun." Allison responded, unsure.

"You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with his fork." Jackson said, shooting a glare at Scott.

"Please do." Nora said rolling her eyes and earning a muffled chuckle from Stiles. He had shoved several crinkle-cut fries into his mouth at once.

"How about bowling? You love to bowl!" Lydia suggested.

"Yeah with actual competition." Jackson scoffed.

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allison taunted. "You can bowl, right?" She asked Scott.

"Sort of?" Scott responded. Scott looked nervous, which struck Nora as odd. With his newfound athleticism, she reasoned that Scott was probably an excellent bowler.

"Is it sort of? Or yes?" Jackson asked wickedly.

"Yes! In fact, I'm a great bowler." Scott answered and the two locked momentarily in a heated staring contest.

_Author's Note:_

_THANK YOU THE FOLLOWS, FAVS, AND REVIEW! If anyone uses Wattpad, I'm also posting on that (my username is the same). _


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

"Scott's coming over tonight?" Lydia asked. Allison and Scott's group bowling outing turned out to be less of a disaster than Nora had anticipated. It turned out that Allison and Scott had had a good time and had made plans to 'study'.

"We're just studying together." Allison told

"Just studying never ends with just studying. It's like getting into a hot tub. Somebody eventually cops a feel." Lydia said with a laugh.

"So what are you saying?" Allison asked innocently.

"Just saying, you know, make sure he covers up." Lydia said simply. "Hello, Snow White! I'm talking about a condom!" She clarified after Allison looked confused.

"Are you kidding? After one date?" Allison said, shocked.

"Don't be a total prude like Nora here. Give him a little taste." Lydia said, playfully hitting Nora's shoulder.

"Wow. Love you too Lyd. I'm going this way." Nora said. "Make good choices." She added as she walked away from the two girls.

Nora was headed down the hallway towards the parking lot, but someone bumped into her. She was incredibly surprised to see that it was Derek Hale. He looked terrible. Under his eyes were dark purple circles that stood out against his paling flesh. His skin glistened with sweat.

"Where's Scott McCall?" Derek's voice was pained, almost a growl.

Nora looked at him wide-eyed. "Derek!? What the hell? Wait, why are you looking for Scott?" When he didn't answer, she asked, "Are you okay? You look terrible."

"Please. Where is he?" Derek asked desperately.

"I don't know. I mean, probably outside. School just got out."Nora answered. Derek then pushed past her and out the double doors to the parking lot. She stood there for a moment dumbfounded, before she headed to her car.

She heard a chorus of car horns honking. She followed the line of cars stopped and saw a blue jeep parked and a figure crumbled up in front of it. Looking closer, she saw the figure was Derek. She watched as Stiles and Scott helped Derek into the passenger side of the blue jeep. There was something not right about the situation. Stiles and Scott had been the ones to find the second half of the body and thus incriminating Derek. Now they were helping him?

Stiles sped off with Derek. As he passed Nora, she shot Stiles a look that she hoped conveyed the 'What the hell?' feeling she currently felt.

…

The next day, Nora sat a table in the library. They were studying mythology in her English class. Her teacher had given the class the time to work on an assignment which required the extra resources the library provided. Nora opened a book she had grabbed off the shelves to help with the assignment. She flipped open to the table of contents and skimmed through the listings.

One listing in particular caught her eye. It didn't have anything to do with her assignment, but she couldn't stop herself from flipping to the page listed. The top of the page read "Werewolves". Nora's eyes drifted to an image on the page. The image showed a large hairy creature with glowing yellow eyes. It didn't look like the werewolves she had seen in movies and TV, which resembled actual wolves. She recalled her nightmare and tried to remember the details of the large creature she had seen. The werewolf she had seen was different than the movies. It looked more like a man and was much larger than a wolf. And its eyes were red. She had never heard of a wolf having red eyes.

Nora moved past the picture and began to read.

"_A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (e.g. via a bite or scratch from another werewolf). The werewolf is a widespread concept in European folklore, existing in many variants which are related by a common development of a Christian interpretation of underlying Indo-European mythology which developed during the medieval period_" 1

She then skimmed further until she stopped at a section titled "Characteristics".

"_The traits of werewolves include the ability to change into a wolf with the natural characteristics inherent to both wolves and humans, including senses, stamina , etc. In addition werewolves are often attributed strength and speed far beyond those of wolves or men and may have them in lesser amount even untransformed form."__2_

Nora immediately thought of Scott. He had certainly displayed speed and agility in lacrosse. It seemed impossible how amazing Scott was at lacrosse. Nora laughed at herself with how far she was taking this. She couldn't help but wonder about heightened senses. Was Scott able to hear from far away, or smell or see more clearly? 'Only one way to find out.' She thought. She looked over at Scott who was sitting across the room. His head was down and he was reading from a book.

"Scott?" She said quietly. Scott's head snapped up in surprise. He looked at her curiously.

"Can you hear me?" Nora asked. Scott's eyes widened in surprise and he elbowed Stiles' sitting next to him, saying something.

Stiles, too, widened his eye in surprised. The two frantically made their way over to Nora's table.

"Hey Nora. Whatcha looking at?" Stiles asked, attempting to be nonchalant.

Nora was speechless. She looked down at the page and at the title "Werewolf" and looked back to Stiles, expectantly.

Stiles quickly shut the book and grabbed it off the table. "You were done with this right? Yup okay cool." He held the book tightly to his body and grabbed Scott's arm, dragging him towards the library exit.

The security gate beeped loudly as Stiles exited with the book. He stopped, and looked at the book. The librarian gave him a stern look and said, "Are you going to check that book out?"

Stiles viciously shook his head and gingerly placed the book on the counter, shooting one last look at Nora before him and Scott left the library, practically in a run. What had Nora just discovered?

_Author's Note:_

_Fanfiction doesn't like URLs, but I consulted Wikipedia Werewolf page for the first werewolf passage and Superpower Wiki page on Werewolf Physiology for the second passage. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

Nora found herself going through the rest of the school day in a daze. Nothing seemed real to her anymore. Scott – a werewolf? The idea was so incredibly insane she couldn't believe she even was considering it. But, everything fit. The speed and agility in lacrosse, the hearing, the glowing yellow eyes - it all fit.

"Nora? Are you even listening?" Lydia waved her hand in front of Nora's face.

"What? Sorry." Nora apologized. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying that we haven't hung out in forever! Jackson and I are watching a movie tonight. You should join us." Lydia said.

It was true. Nora and Lydia hadn't hung out outside of school since the year had begun.

"Promise I won't be third wheeling?" Nora asked.

"Promise." Lydia said, holding out her pinky. Nora wrapped her own pinky around her friends'. "Pick you up at 8?" Lydia asked.

"Sounds great. Bye!" Nora said, closing her locker. The two girls parted ways, allowing Scott to once again penetrate Nora's thoughts.

…

"Hoosier's is not only the best basketball movie – it is the best sports movie ever made!" Jackson said, peeved. The couple was arguing over what movie to rent. Nora sat in the back seat of Lydia's car, already feeling like a third wheel.

"No." Lydia told him.

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper!" Jackson argued.

"No." Lydia responded.

"Lydia! I swear to God you're going to like it!" Jackson could argue all he wanted, but it was never going to make a difference. Nora knew resistance was futile. Lydia _always_ got her way.

"No." Lydia said, not budging.

"I am NOT watching the Notebook again!" Jackson yelled. Lydia simply looked at him. Jackson quickly folded and got out of the car, slamming the door shut. In the rearview mirror, Nora saw Lydia smirk, victorious.

Lydia took her phone out of her purse and opened the camera app. She began to take pictures of herself. "So, Nora. I've been meaning to ask you. What's the deal with you and Scott's friend?" Lydia asked in between pictures.

"Stiles? What do you mean?" Nora asked.

"Please." Lydia scoffed. "Don't think I haven't noticed you two. The way you –"

Nora would never know what Lydia was about to say. She was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. Someone – or rather, something – crashed through the storefront window. Lydia let out an eardrum-splitting shriek as her and Nora saw that something. It was a large dark creature similar to what Nora had seen in the mythology book, but it was larger – nearly 6 foot and bulky. The thing was faster than Nora could even comprehend. As suddenly as it had appeared, the creature was gone. Nora's vision slowly faded to black, falling slack against the car window.

Nora blinked her eyes once, twice, trying to focus her vision. Everything was so bright!

"Can you hear me?" A man said. He was shining a small light into her eyes, checking her pupils. Nora nodded and looked around to identify her surroundings. She was lying down on a stretcher inside an ambulance. "Do you feel any dizziness?" The paramedic asked her.

"No." She answered. The paramedic gave her the okay to go. Nora pushed herself up off the stretcher and emerged from the ambulance. Nora immediately saw her uncle talking with a deputy near the now-destroyed storefront. Seeing her, Sal ran over, crushing her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, concern dripping from his voice.

"I'm fine. Just shaken up." Nora responded. A deputy approached the two and eyed Sal. "Seriously, I'm okay. Go do your job." She told him. Sal looked at her for another moment before stepping away with the deputy. Nora folded her arms across her chest and looked around at the scene. Lydia and Jackson were talking with Sheriff Stilinski by the ambulance. Actually, Lydia was staring off into space while Jackson argued with Sheriff Stilinski. Jackson wanted to go home, but the Sheriff still had questions.

"Woah! Is that a dead body?" A very familiar voice said. Stiles was pointing to a stretcher that had just been pushed out of the video store. A bloody arm draped lifelessly to the side. The rest of the body was covered by a white sheet. Nora was infinitely grateful for this. She didn't think she could handle seeing the rest of the bloodied body.

Sheriff Stilinski gave his son a scolding look and Stiles seemed to shrink back towards the patrol car. Stiles noticed Nora standing nearby, arms still wrapped closely across her body. Nora found herself wondering how she looked. Pale, probably. She hoped her hair wasn't too crazy.

"Nora?" Stiles said, running over to her. "Are you okay?" He asked, his eyes searching her face and body for any sign of injury. Seeing him made Nora recall what she had learned about Scott earlier. She was so tired of the lies and evasiveness. She was going to get answers!

"Am I okay? You are seriously asking me that? I am so freaking far from okay, Stiles!" Nora answered angrily. Stiles seemed taken aback by her sudden fury.

"What happened?" He asked quietly, avoiding looking her in the eye.

"I saw something Stiles that I can't explain! Something that I was told is a fairytale – make believe. I'm seriously considering checking myself into Eichen house. So you better start explaining, Stilinski. I want answers!" She finished, her volume rising slightly.

Stiles grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the sidewalk in front of the video store, away from the commotion. The two sat in silence for a while, Nora waiting and Stiles trying to figure out what to say.

Finally, when Nora was tired of waiting, she said quietly, "Was it Scott that killed the video store clerk?"

"No, it wasn't Scott." Stiles responded.

"Did he hurt the bus driver?" Nora asked.

"No…there's another." Stiles answered finally.

"Another?" Nora echoed. "Derek Hale?" She guessed.

"Well yes, Derek, but that's not what I mean. There is another guy…An alpha. He is the one who bit Scott. He is the one killing people." He told her. "We don't know who he is, but he wants Scott to join him."

"Oh." It was all Nora could say. One werewolf in Beacon Hills apparently wasn't enough. Now there were three…at least.

"Also while I'm being completely transparent, the Argents are werewolf hunters. They don't know about Scott yet." Stiles paused. "You can't tell Allison. Or your uncle. Or anyone."

…

"Just a friendly reminder. Parent-teacher conferences are tonight. Students below a C average are required to attend. I won't name you because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment. Has anyone seen Scott McCall?" The chemistry teacher, Mr. Harris, said walking down the classroom isle, coming to a stop in front of Stiles.

The classroom door opened, and Jackson entered. "Jackson, if you need to leave early for any reason. You let me know." Harris said before returning to the front of the classroom. Nora was tempted to wave her hand in the air and say, "I was in a traumatic situation too!" Sal had wanted her to stay home from school to recoup from the ordeal, but Nora refused. Rumors would be flying and it would only be worse if she wasn't at school.

"Everyone start reading chapter nine…Mr. Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's chemistry, not a coloring book." Harris said maliciously. Stiles had the cap of his highlighter in his mouth and his textbook was almost fully covered in fluorescent ink. He tilted his head upward and blew out a breath, launching the cap into the air before catching it in his hand. The whole maneuver required a level of coordination Nora didn't think Stiles was capable of. Nora was surprised to discover she found the act quite adorable and she smiled slightly.

She turned back to her textbook. Not long after, she heard a commotion. She looked over to see Stiles had fallen off his stool and was in a heap on the floor. She stifled a laugh, before continuing to read the assigned chapter.

…

After school, Nora decided to visit Lydia. She hadn't heard from her all day and Nora was starting to worry. She arrived at the strawberry-blonde's extravagant home and noticed a blue jeep in the driveway. Stiles' must be checking on Lydia, too. Nora knocked a few times on the door and Lydia's mother, Natalie, greeted her. Nora exchanged a few pleasantries with Mrs. Martin before headed up the stairs to her friends' bedroom.

She started down the hallway just as Stiles was emerging from Lydia's bedroom. "How is she?" Nora asked.

"She's …uh… not quite herself. She took some medication for her nerves. She thought I was Jackson." He said, deflated.

"Brutal." Nora responded, shaking her head at him.

"She got a text message and I tried to show it to her…and well, I found something." He told her, holding up Lydia's phone. On the screen was a paused video showing the infamous alpha clear as day.

"I don't know what to do! Do I delete it?" Stiles asked her frantically.

"Let me just talk to her real quick and then we can decide what to do." Nora answered.

"We?" Stiles said, confused.

"Yeah, this is my problem now too." She said as she quietly opened the door to Lydia's room. Lydia was lying limply on her bed, her long curls draped over her face. The girl perked up as Nora sat on the bed.

"Hi Lydia." Nora said gently.

"Norrrrraaaa." Lydia slurred.

"How are you feeling?" Nora asked.

"Ohhh I'm goooooooood!" She answered, falling slightly onto Nora. "Your boyfriend was here." She said, wiggling her finger at Nora.

"My boyfriend?" Nora asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Yeah that one!" Lydia said pointing at Stiles standing in the doorway. Nora looked at Stiles awkwardly.

"Lydia, he's not my boyfriend." Nora said.

"Not yetttt." Lydia said, smirking at her suggestively. "Nora you're so prettttyyyy." She said sleepily. Nora smiled at her friend. Lydia's eyes began to close slowly and she fell back onto her bed. Nora smoothed Lydia's hair before getting up.

"Let's go. Lydia is a wreck. She is my best friend and I have to protect her from this nightmare." Nora said, dragging Stiles with her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

Nora decided to follow Stiles' to his house so the two could figure out what to do about Lydia. She arrived at the Stilinski household and followed Stiles up the stairs to his bedroom. She set down her bag and took a seat on Stiles' bed. Stiles sat down at his desk and stared at Lydia's cell phone in his hand. He looked at Nora for a second before announcing, "I'm calling Scott."

"Hey, it's me again. Look, I found something and I don't know what to do. Okay? So if you could turn your phone on right now that'd be great! Or else, I'll kill you. Do you understand me? I'm gonna kill you. And I'm too upset to come up with a witty description about how exactly I'm going to kill you, but I'm just gonna do it! Okay? Ugh! Goodbye!" Stiles said angrily into the phone before throwing it onto the bed. Nora laid back onto his bed with an exasperated sigh. His pillows smelled faintly of Old Spice.

Stiles' father appeared in the doorway to his bedroom. He knocked twice on the door frame, raising his eyebrows as he saw Nora. Seeming him, she returned to a cross-legged sitting position.

"Hi Nora. I didn't expect to see you here…on my son's bed…" Nora felt a blush come to her cheeks. The Sheriff turned to his son, who was again sitting at his desk. "Please tell me I'm gonna hear good news at this parent teacher thing tonight?" Sheriff Stilinski asked.

"Depends on how you define good news?" Stiles responded.

"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavioral issues." Nora stifled a laugh.

"Might wanna rethink that definition…" Stiles said, shrugging.

"'Nough said." His father said, raising his eyebrows before leaving the doorway.

The two waited until the Sheriff was safely out of hearing range. "So what do we do?" Stiles asked her, lying down on his bed next to her.

"Delete it. Lydia can't know about this. She's already freaked out enough!" Nora said, lying back on his bed once more. Stiles did as she instructed and the two sat in silence. After a few moments, the silence became awkward. Nora became extremely aware of Stiles lying next to her.

"Okay, so crisis averted. Good. Awesome. I should be getting home." Nora rambled on, getting up from the bed.

"R-right. Yeah. Yup." Stiles stuttered.

…

"I see what you mean about that Coach guy! He is…enthusiastic." Sal said, plopping next to her on the coach. Sal and Tanya had just returned from Parent-Teacher conferences.

Nora laughed. "Enthusiastic is one way to put it. What'd he say?"

"Oh, he barely spoke about you. He spent most of the time ranting about his other students and how they drive him crazy. He mentioned Sheriff Stilinski's kid a lot…" Sal told her.

"That doesn't surprise me one bit. He has a love-hate relationship with Stiles." Nora told her uncle.

"So…" Sal started. "What's the deal with you and Stiles anyway?"

"What!?" Nora sputtered. "Why does everyone keep asking that?"

"You've just been hanging out with him a lot, that's all." Sal said, dropping it. "Oh I almost forgot, they caught the mountain lion that attacked the guy at the video store." Nora turned to face him, wide-eyed. "Yeah, it came into the parking lot during the conferences. Thankfully, there was someone there who is an experienced hunter. He took it down before it hurt anyone."

"Who?" Nora asked, quietly.

"I think he said his name was Argent. He has a daughter in your year." Sal told her. Nora just nodded her head. Sal noticed her reaction and mistook it for fear. "You don't need to worry anymore, Nor, the animal is dead. It can't hurt you." He said gently.

"Yeah…" Nora said absent-mindedly. "I'm going to go upstairs to finish up some homework."

…

The following morning, Nora entered her English class and took an empty seat next to Stiles. He seemed upset by something. She was normally greeted by an enthusiastic grin, but today she received a curt nod. Scott had just sat down in the seat behind Stiles, looking grim.

"Still not talking to me?" Scott said to Stiles. Stiles remained face forward and silent. "Can you at least tell me if your dad's okay? I mean it's just a bruise right? Some soft tissue damage? Nothing that big?"

"What happened to your dad?" Nora asked, looking at Stiles with concern.

"Did you hear about the mountain lion last night?" Nora responded with a nod. "Well, in the chaos, he got hit by a car." Stiles told her.

"You know I feel really bad about it, right?" Scott sighed. "What if I told you I'm trying to figure this whole thing out and I even went to Derek for help."

"If I was talking to you, I'd say that you are an idiot for trusting him…but obviously I'm not talking to you." Stiles responded, still facing forward in his seat.

Stiles' curiosity quickly became too much for him to withstand. With a pained expression, Stiles turned around in his seat, facing Scott. "What did he say?"

…

"The what of who?" Lydia asked.

"The Beast of Gevaudan." Allison repeated. Allison was telling the two girls about something she had discovered during research for a history paper. "Listen:_ A quadruped wolf-like monster prowling the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767. La Bete killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that the King Louie the 15__th__ sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it._" Allison read from an old-looking book.

"Boring." Lydia commented.

"_Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan._" Allison continued.

"Hmm. Still boring."

"_Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hooved predator, possibly a mesonychid –"_

"Slipping into a coma bored." Lydia interrupted.

"_- while others believe it was a powerful sorcerer that could shape-shift into a man-eating monster_._" _Allison finished.

"What does this have to do with your family?" Nora asked, already knowing the answer.

"This: _It is believed that La Bete was finally trapped and killed by a renowned hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature. His name was Argent._" Allison responded.

"Your ancestors killed a big wolf. So what?" Lydia mocked.

"Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture. What does it look like to you?" Allison said, holding up the book to show a picture of La Bete. It looked incredibly like the Alpha Nora and Lydia had seen. The image seemed conjure up the memory in Lydia's mind. Her eyes widened and she stared at the image for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

"It looks…like a big wolf. See you in history." She said, getting up from the table.

"I'll…uh…see you later Allison." Nora said, and briskly walked over to the table where Stiles and Scott sat.

"I think the book's making it more obvious. Besides, she's reading, anyway." Stiles said. Scott was attempting to hide from Allison behind a textbook.

"Guys, we have a problem. Well, another one." Nora began, taking a seat next to Stiles. "Allison is researching her family. She's dangerously close to finding out about the family business…"

Scott groaned. "Add it to my list of things to take care of…So did you come up with a plan yet?" Scott asked Stiles.

"I think so." Stiles answered.

"Does that mean you don't hate me now?" Scott asked, peeking up from the edge of the book.

"No! But your crap has infiltrated my life, so now I have to do something about it. Plus I'm definitely a better Yoda than Derek." Stiles said.

"Okay yeah, you teach me." Scott agreed.

"Yeah, I'll be your Yoda." Stiles said with a grin.

"Yeah, you be my Yoda." Scott echoed.

"Your Yoda I will be." Stiles said, doing his best Yoda impression. Nora laughed, getting the reference, but it flew right over Scott's head. "…I said it backwards." Stiles clarified.

"Yeah I-I know." Scott said, looking over at Allison.

"Alright, you know what? I definitely still hate you. Uh-huh! Oh, yeah!" Stiles said angrily grabbing the book out of Scott's grasp and a book off the table. With his other hand, Stiles grabbed Nora's arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria with him.

"Stiles – ow!" Nora said, rubbing her arm.

"Sorry. Look, I need your help with something." Stiles looked at her pointedly. "I need you to get Coach's phone from his office."

"Steal it? No." Nora refused.

"Stealing is such a harsh term. I prefer temporarily misappropriated." Stiles responded to which Nora just shook her head. "Please! It's important. Plus if you get caught, Coach won't punish you. He likes you." Stiles gave her his best puppy dog eyes and stuck his lower lip out slightly, begging.

"Fine. But you owe me!" Nora relented. The two parted ways and Nora made her way to Coach's office. She was starting to think Sal was right about Stiles' being a bad influence. Nora waited by Coach's door. Lunch period was just about over and he would be heading to the classroom soon.

"Coach?" Nora said, seeing him emerge and take out his keys to lock the door. He dropped his hand and turned to her.

"Yeah?" He responded.

Nora thought quickly. "I think I finally decided what AP courses I'm going to take next semester." She said, hoping he didn't catch on to her deception.

"Wonderful." Coach said sarcastically. "But I've got a class to teach. You should make an appointment."

"Right. Yeah, of course." She said, silently hoping he would forget about locking the door. Her prayers were answered as Coach gave her a look and left. Nora let out a breath. She waited until Coach was around the corner before she gingerly turned the door handle, expecting booby traps or something. Nora quickly opened the drawers to his desk, searching for his phone and praying he didn't keep it on him. Her luck persisted and she saw the phone sitting in the top drawer. She grabbed it and ran out of his office as quick as she could.

_Author's Note:_

_I made a new cover because I just wasn't feeling the old one. Thank you soooo much for those who have read and especially the two of you who've reviewed: MsRose91 and She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Sane. I have a mini-freakout everytime I see that someone has followed or favorited. Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think! I love hearing feedback! 3_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

"Here, take the contraband." Nora said, handing Coach's phone to Stiles.

"Ah you are the best. I knew you'd be a good klepto!" Stiles said excitedly. Nora playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" He said rubbing his shoulder. "Come on, you're going to want to watch this." Stiles grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway and towards on the lacrosse field.

"Okay. Now…Put this on." Stiles said handed a strap-like thing to Scott once they arrived.

"Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I borrowed it." Stiles responded.

"Stole it." Nora corrected.

"Temporarily misappropriated." Stiles amended. "Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs. And you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day."

"Isn't that coach's phone?" Scott asked, seeing Stiles pull out the phone.

"That, Nora stole." Stiles said smirking.

"Temporarily misappropriated!" Nora said.

"Why?" Scott asked.

"Alright, well, your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right? When you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison, whenever you get angry. Maybe learning to control it is tied is learning to control your heart rate."

"Like the Incredible Hulk." Scott said.

"Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, yeah." Stiles agreed.

"No, I'm like the Incredible Hulk."

"Would you shut up and put the strap on?" Stiles said. He pulled out a roll of duct tape and motioned for Scott to turn around. Nora helped by holding Scott's hands together behind his back while Stiles duct taped around them, binding him.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period." Scott said.

"Alright. You ready?" Stiles said, stepping back a few feet.

"No." Scott grumbled.

"Remember, don't get angry." Stiles said. Nora sat down on the grass a safe distance away to watch.

"I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea…" Scott said to himself. Stiles scooped up a ball with his lacrosse stick and launched it at Scott, hitting him in the kneecap. The next ball hit him in the neck. And a third again to the neck. All the while, Scott was groaning in pain.

"Ah, son of a bitch!" Scott exclaimed.

"You know what I think my aim is actually improving!" Stiles said happily.

"Wonder why." Scott shouted.

"Ah, buh, buh, don't get angry!" Stiles said, but it was clear Scott was definitely getting angry. Stiles launched several more balls at Scott, all hitting him in the neck or face.

"Stop. Just wait, hold on –" Scott said as yet another flew at his face. He fell forward onto the ground, with his head down, groaning. He was breathing heavy. Scott quickly tore his hands apart, breaking the duct tape. Wide-eyed Nora got up from the grass, ready to run if Scott changed, not that that would make a difference when going up against a werewolf.

After a few moments, though, his breathing slowed and the anger seemed to pass.

"Scott, you started to change." Stiles said, coming closer to Scott on the ground.

"From anger. But it was more than that. It was like, the angrier I got, the stronger I felt." Scott said.

"So it is anger, then. Derek's right." Stiles said.

"I can't be around Allison."

"Just because she makes you happy?" Stiles asked.

"No, because she makes me weak." Scott corrected.

…

After school, Nora was walking to her car, when she saw a fight break out. She thought she saw Scott in the middle of the fight, except that he was not fighting back at all. She looked over to see Stiles standing nearby, looking worried.

"Ah, come on, stay calm." Stiles said to himself quietly, looking at Scott's heart rate on Coach's phone.

"What did you do?" Nora asked accusatorily.

"I think Allison is Scott's anchor – his control. We're testing my theory." Stiles answered. "Scott. Come on, buddy."

"Great, well you let me know how that turns out. I'm leaving before you guys get in trouble." Nora said, leaving Stiles looking worried at the increasing heart rate.

…

"I just got a text from Scott. He said to meet him at the school." Allison told the group. She and Allison were squeezed into the back of Jackson's Camaro. Nora couldn't imagine how they were going to fit Scott in the back with the other two girls. There was barely enough room for the two of them. Jackson, Lydia, Allison, Scott and her had made plans to go out to dinner as a group. Nora had reluctantly agreed seeing that the last plans she made to hang out with Lydia were ruined by the Alpha. Scott was a no show to pick up Allison, so the other three came by to get her.

"The school?" Jackson grumbled, putting his car into reverse and heading towards the school.

"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Allison said when they arrived, heading towards a propped open door to the school.

"Wait, I'm coming with you. I got to pee!" Nora said, running after her. The hallway was entirely dark. And creepy. Nora ran her hand along the wall, trying to find a light switch. "Where's the light switch for this place?" Nora found a bathroom and quickly did her business. She emerged from the bathroom and flooded the hallway with light. The door swung shut behind her, leaving the hallway in darkness once more. "Let's find Scott." Nora said to Allison.

The girls headed down a hallway and threw a doorway. The swimming pool came into view. Allison's phone rang, making them both jump at the sudden noise.

"Hey. I can't seem to find them…Okay, give me a second. I'll be right there." Allison said to Lydia over the phone. Allison and Nora turned around to head back. Allison's phone rang again. The screen showed Stiles was calling.

"Stiles?" Allison said, questioning. "I'm at the school looking for you. Why weren't you at my place?" It must be Scott, Nora reasoned. "On the first floor…The swimming pools. Okay, Okay. I'm coming." Allison broke out into a run and Nora followed.

Scott and Stiles were just arriving when Allison and Nora entered the lobby.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked.

"Because you asked me to." Allison responded, looking confused.

"I asked you to?" Scott questioned. Allison pulled up the text message and showed him.

"Why do I get the feeling you didn't send this message?" Allison asked.

"Because I didn't." Scott answered. 'Uh oh', Nora thought.

"Did you drive here?" Stiles asked.

"Jackson did." Nora answered.

"Jackson's here, too?" Scott groaned.

"And Lydia, what's going on? Who sent this text?" Allison asked. Allison's phone rang once more. Lydia and Jackson busted through a nearby double door, causing Nora to jump.

"Finally. Can we go now?" Lydia asked. Nora looked up, hearing loud thuds coming from the ceiling.

"Run!" Scott yelled. What they were running from, Nora had a pretty good idea. The group ran into the cafeteria and began locking the double doors. Scott began moving furniture in front of the door. "Help me get this front of the door."

"Scott, what was that!" Allison asked, panicking. Lydia looked like she was on the verge of a meltdown. Meanwhile, Stiles was trying to get everyone's attention.

"Guys. Can we just wait a second? Guys? Stiles talking. Can we hang on one second please? HELLO!" Finally, Stiles earned the rest of the group's attention. "Okay! Nice work! Really beautiful job everyone. Now, what should we do about the 20 foot wall of windows?" He said gesturing to the windows exposing them to the world.

"Can somebody please explain what's going on because I am freaking out. And I would like to know why. Scott?" Allison asked Scott desperately.

"Somebody killed the janitor." Stiles said.

"What?" Lydia and Nora said in unison.

"Yeah, the janitors dead." Stiles confirmed.

"What is he talking about? Is this a joke?" Allison asked. She, too, looked like she was on the verge of a emotional breakdown.

"What, who killed him?" Jackson asked.

"No, no, no. This was supposed to be over. The mountain lion killed him." Lydia mumbled.

"No, don't you get it. There wasn't a mountain lion." Jackson said to Lydia.

"Who was it? What does he want? What's happening?" Allison said, her voice a whisper. "Scott!" She yelled.

"I don't know! I-I just…if we go out there, he's going to kill us."

"Us? He's going to kill us?" Lydia echoed.

"Who? Who is it!" Allison demanded.

"It's Derek. It's Derek Hale." Scott sighed. Nora couldn't believe what she was hearing. Scott was throwing a presumably dead Derek under the bus.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

"It's Derek. It's Derek Hale." Scott sighed.

"Wait? Derek killed the janitor?" Jackson asked.

"Are you sure?" Mumbled Allison.

"I saw him!" Scott said, on edge.

"But the mountain lion—" Lydia began.

"No! Derek killed them!" Scott said.

"All of them?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, starting with his own sister." Scott said bitterly.

"The bus driver?" Allison whispered.

"And the guy in the video store! It's been Derek the whole time! He is in here with us. And if we don't get out now, he's going to kill us too!" Scott declared.

"Call the cops!" Jackson ordered.

"No." Stiles refused.

"Wh-What do you mean 'No'?" Jackson asked.

"I mean no. You wanna hear it in Spanish? _Noh._" Stiles returned.

"Look Derek killed three people, okay? We don't know what he's armed with." Nora said, stepping in between Stiles and Jackson.

"His dad is armed with an entire sheriff's department. Call him!" Jackson snarled at Stiles.

"I'm calling." Lydia said, dialing 911. "Yes, we're at Beacon Hills high school. We're trapped and we need you to—But—" She said to the 911 operator. Lydia looked up, confused. "She hung up on me."

"The police hung up on you?" Allison asked.

"She said they got a tip warning them there were gonna be prank calls about a break-in to the high school. She said that if I called again they're gonna trace it and have me arrested." Lydia told them.

"Okay, then call again!" Allison urged.

"No, they won't trace a cell. Then they'll send a car to your house before they send anyone here." Stiles sighed.

"W-what is this? W-why does Derek want to kill us? Why is he killing anyone?" Allison blubbered. All eyes turned to Scott.

"Why's everyone looking at me?" Scott said defensively.

"Is he the one that sent her the text?" Lydia asked.

"No! I mean, I-I don't know."

"Is he the one that called the police?" Allison asked.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Scott shouted.

"All right, why don't we ease back on the throttle here, yeah?" Stiles said, pulling Scott away from the group to tell him something privately.

"Okay, assheads! New plan. Stiles calls his useless Dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?" Jackson announced. "All right, give me the phone."

Jackson made a grab for Stiles' phone, but Stiles stopped him. Stiles swung around and his fist connected with Jackson's jaw. Jackson fell to the ground, groaning and clutching his face dramatically.

"Jackson! Are you okay?" Allison said, running to his side. Begrudgingly, Stiles took out his phone and began to dial.

"Dad, hey, it's me. And it's your voicemail. Look, I need you to call me back. Like right now…" Stiles said into the phone just as a loud banging noise erupted from just outside the cafeteria doors. It was obvious someone was trying to get through the locked double doors. "We're at the school, Dad, we're at the school." Stiles finished, ending the call.

"The kitchen – the door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell." Stiles said, as the group began backing up away from the doors.

"Which only goes up!" Scott questioned.

"Up is better than here!" Nora added as she turned and made a beeline for the kitchen door. Following her lead, her friends ran through the kitchen and through another set of double doors. They entered the stairwell and climbed to the second floor. They burst into the hallway and began checking the classroom doors for one unlocked.

Lydia was the first to find a room unlocked. They ran into the room, quickly closing the door and locking it behind them. Scott grabbed a chair and put it under the doorknob. Nora laughed coldly. That was not going to stop an Alpha werewolf.

Calming down slightly, Nora looked around at her surroundings. They were in Mr. Harris' chemistry room. 'I am not dying in this classroom!' Nora thought.

"Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?" Scott asked.

"Five, if someone squeezes on someone's lap." Jackson responded.

"Five? I barely fit in the back." Scoffed Allison.

"It doesn't matter. There's no getting out without drawing attention." Stiles said, looking despondent.

"What about this? This leads to the roof. We can go down the fire escape to the parking lot in like seconds." Scott suggested, gesturing to a door near the chalk board.

"That's a deadbolt." Nora piped up. There was no way they were getting out of the classroom unless someone knew how to pick a lock…or had a key.

"The Janitor has a key." Scott supplied.

"You mean his body has it." Stiles amended.

"I can get it. I can find him by scent. By blood." Scott told the two of them quietly.

"Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly terrible idea. What else you got?" Stiles commented in his usual sarcastic fashion.

"I'm getting the key." Scott announced, his mind made up.

"Are you serious?" Allison asked incredulously.

"Well, it's the best plan. Someone has to get the key if we wanna get out of here." Scott answered.

"You can't go out there unarmed." Allison reasoned. Scott looked over to the chalkboard and grabbed Mr. Harris' pointer stick. Nora and the others narrowed their eyes at Scott, while Stiles rolled his eyes at his friend. 'If Scott wasn't a supernatural creature, he would definitely be the first to die in a scary movie.' Nora thought.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Scott rationalized.

"There's gotta be something else." Stiles said, looking around the room for something else to use as a weapon.

"There is." Lydia stated, gesturing at a cabinet near the chalkboard. It was where the various chemicals were kept for the students to use in experiments.

"What are we gonna do? Throw acid on him?" Stiles scoffed.

"No, like a fire bomb." Lydia said, rolling her eyes at Stiles. "In there is everything you need to make a self-igniting Molotov cocktail."

"Self-igniting -?" Stiles started.

"Molotov Cocktail." Finished Lydia. "What? I read it somewhere." She said, seeing the confused look on her friends' faces. A firebomb would be a worthy weapon, but there was one problem – the cabinet was locked.

"Except we don't have a key for that either." Nora sighed. Jackson wasted no more time, jamming an elbow through the glass of the cabinet door. Lydia quickly got to work mixing the chemicals. Somehow, and even under the tremendous pressure of a life-or-death situation, Lydia could recall the correct chemicals needed and the order in which they should be added. Nora was smart, but she doubted she could have thought of something so ingenious.

A few minutes later, Lydia corked the Erlenmeyer flask and handed it to Scott.

"No. No, this is insane. You can't do this. You cannot go out there!" Allison whined, tears threatening to leave her eyes.

"We can't just sit around waiting for Stiles' dad to check his messages." Scott said to her.

"You could die! Don't you get that? He's killed three people." Allison pleaded.

"And we're next! Somebody has to do something." He said, purposely avoiding looking Allison in the eye.

"Scott, just stop. Do you remember, do you remember when you told me you knew whether or not I was lying? That I had a tell? So do you. You're a horrible liar. And you've been lying all night. Just – just please, please don't go. Please don't leave us. Please." Allison begged.

"Lock it behind me." Scott told the group. Allison grabbed Scott by the shoulders and the two locked in a passionate kiss. Scott finally broke free of Allison's grasp and headed into the dark hallway. With Scott gone, there was nothing to do but wait. Nora slumped down onto the cold tile floor up against the wall.

Stiles joined her on the floor, with a heavy sigh. "Hey." He said.

"Hey…" Nora responded. "Good job punching Jackson, by the way. How long have you been holding that one back?" She asked.

"Too long… Hurt my hand a lot though." Stiles told her. Without thinking, Nora grabbed Stiles' right hand and inspected it. It didn't appear to have any bruising, but that would probably come later.

"Looks like you'll live." Nora said finally. She kept hold on Stiles' hand. It was warm and comforting. Nora tried her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She had never been this close to a boy before and she couldn't help but feel nervous. "Scott will be okay, right?" She asked, looking into his brown eyes with her blue-green ones.

"Yeah, I mean Derek said the Alpha wants Scott in his pack. He doesn't want to kill Scott." Stiles said after a moment. "We'll be fine too, Nora." He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Their moment was interrupted by Lydia, "Jackson. You handed me the sulfuric acid, right? It has to be sulfuric acid. It won't ignite if it's not."

"I gave you exactly what you asked for, didn't I?" Jackson snarled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you did." Lydia said quietly, shrinking back.

"Can you punch Jackson again, please?" Nora whispered to Stiles. Stiles was about to answer, when suddenly a loud howl erupted. Nora jumped up from her seated position and readied herself to run.

At the same time, Jackson fell to the ground. He was clutching his neck and grunting in pain. After a moment, Jackson recovered and removed his hand from his neck. "Uh, no I'm fine. Seriously, I'm okay." He said.

"That didn't sound okay at all." Allison said worriedly. Nora noticed several scabbed over marks on the back of Jackson's neck. Stiles seemed to notice them too.

"What's on the back of your neck?" Stiles asked, pointing to the marks. Jackson quickly swatted his hand away.

"Well it's been there for days. He won't tell me what happened." Lydia commented.

"As if you actually care!" Jackson growled.

"Alright can we not argue for half a second?" Stiles said.

"Where's Scott? He should be back by now." Allison whispered. Seconds later, the lock of the classroom door began to click, as if someone was unlocking it. Allison ran to the door and began banging on it. "Scott! Scott!" She yelled desperately.

"Stop! Stop!" Lydia shouted. "Do you hear that? Listen!" It was faint, but Nora could hear it. It was the sound of sirens.

Nora and the other ran to the windows of the classroom, just as a hoard of police cars were pulling up to the school. Nora let out a sigh – it looked like she had survived another Alpha encounter.

_Author's Note:_

Sorry this chapter took so long. It was pretty much entirely dialogue which sucks to write. Hope it wasn't too choppy. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

Stiles POV

"Where are we going?" Scott asked as he and Stiles trudged through the woods of Beacon Hills Preserve.

"You'll see." Stiles answered.

"'Cause we really shouldn't be out here. My mom is in a constant state of freak-out from what happened at the school." Scott whined.

"Well your mom isn't the Sheriff. There's no comparison, trust me." Stiles leveled.

"Can you at least tell me what we're doing out here?" Scott didn't like surprises, especially when it was at the hands of his hyperactive friend.

"Yes. When your best friend gets dumped—" Stiles began.

"I didn't get dumped! We're taking a break." Scott interjected. After the ordeal at the school, Allison had effectively broken up with Scott, and he was not taking it too well.

"All right, well, when your best friend gets told by his girlfriend that they're taking a break… you get your best friend drunk." Stiles said giddily, holding up a bottle of Jack Daniel's.

For a long time, the two were silent. Scott was wallowing, and Stiles did not know what to say to help. So the two simply passed the bottle back and forth, each taking long pulls. The alcohol hit Stiles' bloodstream first, which gave him enough confidence to break the silence.

"Dude, you know, she's just one…one girl. You know, there are so many, there are so many other girls in the sea." Stiles rambled on.

"Fish in the sea." Scott corrected.

"Fish? Why are you talking about fish? I'm talking about girls. I love girls. I love 'em. I love… especially ones with strawberry blond hair, green eyes, five foot three…ones with beautiful blonde friends.." Stiles trailed off, lost in thought about the two girls.

"Like Lydia and Nora?" Scott asked. Scott knew Stiles' was head-over-heels in love with Lydia, but hearing about an interest in Nora was new to him. Heck, it was new to Stiles too.

"Yeah, exactly. Hey, how did you know I was talking about…about… what was I talking about? Hey, Nora's calling me! Norrraaaaa" Stiles said, answering his phone.

"Stiles?" The girl on the other end asked.

"Heyyyy!" Stiles said back.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked, hearing his slurred speech.

"Okay? I'm fantastic, Nora bear!" Drunk Stiles told her. When he had developed the pet name for her, even Sober Stiles didn't know.

"Stiles, are you drunk?" Nora asked with a chuckle.

Stiles pulled the phone away from his ear and turned his head towards Scott. "Scott, am I drunk?" He asked.

"You're wasted." Scott replied with a shake of his head.

"Hahahaha….." Stiles giggled at nothing in particular.

"Look, Stiles. I'm gonna go, I'll talk you about it on Monday, when you are less inebriated." Nora said and the line went dead.

"Hey! You're not happy! Take a drink!" Stiles said to Scott, noticing his friend's sour expression.

"I don't want any more." Scott said, rejecting the bottle Stiles had tried to hand him.

"You're not drunk?" Stiles questioned.

"I'm not anything." Scott responded.

"Hey, maybe it's like, maybe it's like not needing your inhaler anymore, you know. Maybe you can't get drunk as a wolf…Aw, come on, dude, I know it feels bad. I know it hurts. I know. Well, I don't know. But I know this. I know that as much as being broken up hurts, being alone is way worse. That didn't make any sense… I need a drink." Stiles went on.

"Well, look at the two little bitches getting their drink on." A man said as he and another entered the clearing where Scott and Stiles sat. The man grabbed the Jack Daniel's bottle and took a swig.

"Give it back." Scott growled.

"What's that, little man?" The man taunted.

"I think he wants a drink." The man's friend said.

"I want the bottle." Scott repeated.

"Scott, maybe we should just go." Stiles said, trying to pull his drunk self off the ground.

"You brought me here to get me drunk, Stiles. I'm not drunk yet. Give me the bottle." Scott said angrily.

The two men simply chuckled, making Scott even angrier. His eyes glowed yellow and again he growled, but more fiercely this time. "Give me the bottle of Jack."

"Scott?" Stiles warned, seeing sharp nails emerge from Scott's fingers. Scott swiped the bottle from the man's hand and launched it at a nearby tree, smashing it into a thousand pieces. Without another word, the two strangers hurried out of the clearing.

"Okay, please tell me that was because of the breakup. Or 'cause tomorrow's the full moon." Stiles asked as the two headed back to his jeep. Scott didn't answer. "Going home now, yeah?" Stiles asked and pulled himself into the passenger seat, his eyes already shut.

…

Stiles sat on the floor of the hallway outside the Principal's office. His father and several other men in suits were discussing something with the Principal. Stiles recognized one of the men as Nora's uncle, Sal Montgomery. On his exit, Sheriff Stilinski noticed his son sitting nearby.

"Don't you have a test to get to?" He chided.

"What's going on? Did you find Derek yet?" Stiles asked.

"I'm workin' on it. You go take your test." The Sheriff ordered.

"All right, Dad, listen to me. This is really important. You have to be careful tonight, okay? Especially tonight." Stiles said worriedly.

"Stiles, I'm always careful." His father responded.

"Dad, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before, okay? At least not like this." Stiles knew just how completely uninformed his father was about the recent crimes in Beacon Hills.

"I know, which is why I brought in people who have. Sal Montgomery and another State Detective. " He said, gesturing to the suited men. "Go take your test."

…

Stiles chose a desk near the back of the classroom. He took out his notes to look over before the exam.

"Hey." Nora said, taking a seat next to him. "I've been dying to talk to you about this. I found this in Sal's case stuff." Nora began, holding up a picture of a man's very muscular back. There was a large tattoo of three connected spirals adorning the man's back. Neat print at the top of the picture told Stiles that this back belonged to Derek Hale.

"Yeah, he has lovely muscles…" Stiles said, confused.

"No. Well, yeah, but that's not my point. The tattoo. Look familiar?" Nora asked, holding up the necklace she was wearing. It had the same spiral design. "That can't be coincidence, can it?"

"Where'd you get the necklace?" Stiles asked.

"It was my mom's. She said my dad gave it to her when they were still together." She told him.

"Look, Nora, it's probably nothing. I'll do some research if that makes you feel better." Stiles reassured her. Their conversation ended as Mr. Harris cleared his throat, signaling that class was beginning.

"You have 45 minutes to complete the test. 25 percent of your grade can be right now simply by writing your name on the cover of the blue book." Harris stated. Stiles quickly scrawled his name on the booklet. "However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover and I will be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher. So, let's get the disappointment over. Begin."

Stiles opened booklet and read the first question – _1. An increase in imports of consumer goods is most likely to have been caused by a :_

Stiles had barely answered the first few questions when Scott sprinted out the classroom.

"Mr. McCall!" Mr. Harris called after him. Stiles, too, ran out of the classroom after his friend. "Mr. Stilinski!"

"Scott?" Stiles said, looking down the empty hallway for Scott. Lying on the ground was Scott's backpack. "Scott?" Stiles called again, picking up Scott's backpack. He quickly dialed Scott's cell phone and began to follow the sound of the ringtone.

The ringtone was coming from the boy's locker room. Stiles could hear the shower running inside. He cautiously entered the locker room and headed towards the shower room. Stiles let out a sigh, seeing Scott, human, letting the steaming hot water fall on him.

"Stiles, I can't…" Scott said, panting.

"What's happening? Are you changing?" Stiles asked worriedly.

"No, I can't breathe!" Scott told him. Stiles opened a zippered pocket in Scott's backpack and emerged with his inhaler.

"Here, use this." Stiles said, handing him the inhaler. Scott looked back at him, puzzled. "Come on, do it!" He ordered. Scott inhaled a puff of the inhaler and his breathing slowed.

"I was having an asthma attack?" Scott asked incredulously.

"No, you were having a panic attack. But thinking you were having an asthma attack actually stopped the panic attack. Irony." Stiles finished.

"How did you know to do that?" Scott questioned.

"I used to get 'em after my mom died. Not fun, huh?" He admitted.

"I looked at her and it was like someone hit me in the ribs with a hammer." Said Scott.

"Yeah, it's called heartbreak. About 2 billion songs written about it." Stiles responded.

"I can't stop thinking about her." He whined.

"Well you could think about this: her dad's a werewolf hunter, and you're a werewolf, so it was bound to become an issue. That wasn't helpful…Dude, I mean, yeah, you got dumped, and it's supposed to suck."

"No, that's not it." Scott said, shaking his head. "It was like I could feel everything in the room, everyone else's emotions."

"It's gotta be the full moon. So we'll lock you up in your room later just like we planned. That way the Alpha, who is your boss, can't get to you either." Stiles reassured him.

"I think we need to do a lot more than lock me in my room."

"What, you mean because if you get out you'd get caught by hunters?" Stiles asked.

"No. Because if I get out, I think I might kills someone." Scott answered ominously.

…

"All right geniuses, listen up." Coach Finstock began, blowing his whistle. Scott and Stiles sat with the rest of the lacrosse team in the boy's locker room. "Due to the recent pink eye epidemic – thank you Greenburg - the following people have made first line on a probationary basis, emphasis on the word "probationary". Rodriguez, welcome to first line. Taylor, and, uh…oh, for the love of crap, I can't even read my own writing. What is that, an 'S'? No, no, that's not an 'S', that's a – that's a 'B'! It's definitely a 'B'. Uh Rodriguez, Taylor and, uh, Bilinski." Coach finally finished.

Stiles let out a series of hollers and celebratory yells.

"Bilinski!" Coach ordered.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Shut up!" Coach snapped.

"Yes, sir."

"Stiles." Scott said quietly to his friend.

"It's Biles. Call me Biles or I swear to God I'll kill you." Stiles threatened.

"One other thing. From here on out, immediately, we're switching to co-captains. Congratulations, McCall!" Coach announced.

"What!" Jackson yelled. It was clear from the look on his face that this news did not sit well with him.

"What do you mean, what? Jackson, this takes nothing away from you. This is about combining separate strengths into one unit. This is about taking your unit, McCall's unit, we're making one big unit. McCall, it's you and Jackson now. Everybody else, asses on the field! Asses on the field." Coach Finstock said, blowing his whistle once more.

"Dude, can you believe this? You're a captain! I'm first line! I'm first freaking line! Are you not freaking out? I'm freaking out." Stiles rambled as he and Scott were walking to the lacrosse field.

"What's the point? It's just a stupid title. And I could practically smell the jealousy in there." Scott said miserably.

"Wait, you smelled jealousy?" Stiles furrowed his brows in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's like the full moon turned everything up to ten."

"Huh. Can you pick up on stuff like, I don't know, desire?" Stiles asked.

"What do you mean desire?" Scott asked, confused.

"Like sexual desire."

"Sexual desire?" Scott questioned.

"Yeah, sexual desire! Lust, passion, arousal." Stiles snapped, rolling his r in the last word.

"From Lydia?" Scott suggested knowingly.

"What? No, in general, broad sense, can you determine sexual desire?"

"From Lydia to you?" Scott looked to Lydia who was chatting with a friend nearby.

"Fine, yes, from Lydia to me. Look, I need to know if I have a chance with this girl, okay? I've been obcessing over her since the third freakin' grade." Stiles admitted finally.

"What about Nora?" Scott asked.

"Nora? Why—" Stiles began, but then decided it wouldn't hurt. "Actually, yeah do her too!"

"Why don't you just ask them?" Scott questioned.

"Well, to save myself utterly crushing humiliation. Thank you, Scott. Okay, so can you please just do this one thing…for me? See if her heartbeat rises, pheromones come out." Stiles said, flailing his arms.

"Fine." Scott responded, leaving Stiles standing alone in the hallway.

"I love you. I love you! You're my best friend in the whole world!" Stiles called after him before heading to the lacrosse field.

Stiles sat down on a bench near the sideline of the lacrosse field to adjust his shin guards. He jumped slightly when a body plopped down next to him.

"Hey Stiles, is Scott feeling okay? You know with tonight being the full moon, and stuff?" Nora asked. Stiles looked back at her wide-eyed.

"S-Scott's fine. Well actually, no. He's not. It's worse because of the breakup. Why?" Stiles stuttered.

"Oh I just ran into him on my way here and he was acting weird…Really weird…It seemed like he was going to kiss-" Nora stopped abruptly as Scott joined them on the bench. "I'll…uh… see you guys later." She said.

"Hey! What happened?" Stiles said as soon as Nora was out of earshot.

"What?" Scott asked, adjusting his shin guards and gloves.

"What do you mean what? Did you ask Lydia? Did she say anything? Did she say she likes me? Did she imply she liked me?" He asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, she likes you. In fact, she's totally into you." Scott said with a grin. It was the words Stiles had been waiting the majority of his life to hear. The happiness of making first line, albeit on a temporary basis, was _nothing_ compared to the joy Stiles felt now.

Stiles found himself mindlessly lining up with the rest of the players to begin a shooting drill. Scott, however, seemed to be having a hard time with his emotions again.

"Scott, you okay, dude? Look, I know we just got good news and all, but there's still 7 hours until the full moon, okay?" Stiles asked. Scott ran forward toward the goal, but was stopped by two players. Scott hit the ground with full force, knocking the wind from his lungs and not doing any favors for his anger.

"Guess some people don't appreciate your new status there, McCall. Who's next? Let's go!" Coach said after a long and taunting laugh. Instead of going to the end of the line, Scott pushed his way in front of Stiles to take another turn. This time, he pushed past the goal's defenders and shoved, hard, the goalie Danny, to the ground. With the goal unoccupied, Scott shot the ball into the net.

Danny remained down, clutching his face. Teammates and a paramedic rushed to his side.

Stiles pulled Scott away, "Dude, what the hell were you doing?"

"What? He's twice the size of me!" Scott answered angrily.

"But everybody likes Danny. Now everybody's gonna hate you." Stiles said.

"I don't care." Scott snarled.

Danny had, by now, drawn quite a crowd. People in the bleachers now stood around him.

"Is he okay?" Lydia asked.

"It just looks like he has a bloody nose—" Jackson began, but stopped abruptly, seeing Lydia's smudged lip gloss.

"What?" She asked.

"Your lipstick." He said.

"Oh, I wonder how that happened." Lydia said as she pulled out a compact mirror to fix her makeup.

"Yeah, I wonder." Jackson snarled. His disgust was obvious. Lydia was meticulous with her appearance. There was only one way it could have occurred. Something clicked in Stiles' head - Scott had kissed Lydia.

…

Stiles pulled out the key to Scott's house and opened the front door.

"Scott?" Mrs. McCall's voice called as he entered the foyer.

"Stiles." He corrected as she came into view

"Key!" Scott's mom, Melissa, said, noticing the key in Stiles' hand.

"Yeah, I had one made, so…" Stiles admitted guiltily.

"That doesn't surprise me. It scares me, but doesn't surprise me." Melissa said.

Stiles dropped the duffle bag he had brought onto the floor, causing the contents to shift in a metal clinking sound.

"What is that?" Melissa asked.

"Uhhh, school project." Stiles lied.

"Mm. Stiles, he's okay, right?" Mrs. McCall asked, worried.

"Who? Scott? Yeah! Totally." Stiles lied once more.

"He just doesn't talk to me much anymore. Not like he used to."

"Well, he's had a bit of a rough week." He said, an attempt to ease her mind.

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, um, okay, be careful tonight."

"You too."

"Full moon." Melissa said with a laugh.

"What!?" Stiles practically shouted.

"Uh there's a full moon tonight." Mrs. McCall said with a laugh. "You should see how the ER gets. Brings out all the nutjobs…You know, it's actually where they came up with the word lunatic."

Stiles let out a long sigh of relief before heading up to Scott's room. Stiles set flipped the light switch and -

"Oh, my god!" Stiles yelped, seeing Scott sitting in an armchair across the room. "Dude. You scared the hell out of me. Your mom said you weren't home yet."

"I came in through the window." Scott said, his face void of any emotion.

"Okay. Well let's get this set up. I want you to see what I bought." Stile said, setting down the duffle bag.

"I'm fine. I'm just gonna lock the door and go to bed early tonight." Scott said. The look on his face said he was anything but fine. It was making Stiles more worried by the second.

"You sure about that? 'Cause you got this kind of serial killer look going on in your eyes, and I'm hoping it's the full moon taking effect, 'cause it's really starting to freak me out."

"I'm fine. You should go now." Scott repeated.

"Alright. I'll leave. Well, look, would you just at least look in the bag and see what I bought. You know, maybe you use it, maybe you don't. Sound good?"

Scott moved slowly to the floor and pulled out the contents of the bag. The bag contained thick metal chains. "You think I'm gonna let you put these on and chain me up like a dog?"

"Actually, no." Stiles said, eliciting a confused look from Scott. While Stiles had him distracted, he quickly handcuffed Scott's wrist to radiator.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scott yelled, the first emotion he'd shown since Stiles arrived.

"Protecting you from yourself. And giving you some payback…for making out with Lydia." Stiles responded coldly.

He retrieved a bottle of water from downstairs and a bowl he had made special for Scott.

"I brought you some water." Stiles said as he filled a dog water bowl labeled "Scott". He gingerly set the bowl in front of Scott and turned to leave.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Scott shouted and chucked the water bowl at Stiles' turned back. Stiles turned back towards Scott.

"You kissed her, Scott, okay? You kissed Lydia. That's, like the one girl that I ev—And you know, the past three hours, I've been thinking it's probably just the full moon. You know, he probably doesn't even know what he's doing and tomorrow, he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch, a freaking unbelievable piece of crap friend." Stiles concluded with as much anger as he could muster.

"She kissed me." Scott said evilly.

"What?"

"I didn't kiss her. She kissed me." Scott taunted. Stiles had had enough. He moved to the hallway outside of Scott's room and sat on the floor against the wall. "She would've done a lot more, too. You should've seen the way she had her hands all over me. She would've done anything I wanted. ANYTHING!"

Scott continued to growl and yell obscenities at Stiles, while Stiles did his best to block out his friend's taunts.

"Stiles, please let me out." Scott said, his tone changing to one more normal. "It's the full moon, I swear. You know I wouldn't do any of this on purpose. Please, Stiles, let me out. It's starting to hurt. It's not like the first time. It's the full moon. It's Allison breaking up with me. I know…that it's not just taking a break. She broke up with me. And it's killing me. I feel completely hopeless. Just, please, let me out."

"I can't" Stiles said quietly, causing Scott's screaming to start up again. The closer they got to the peak of the moon, the worse the screaming got. Scott's desperation reached an all-time high and then suddenly stopped.

"Scott? Are you okay? Scott?" Stiles called, getting up from his spot on the floor.

The handcuffs lay in a broken heap on the floor. Drops of blood dripped around the radiator and on the ledge of the open window. Scott was gone.

_Author's Note_:

_As requested, I did a chapter in Stiles POV. Things are definitely starting to pick up with Nora's part of the story and the relationship between her and Stiles so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations._

Nora POV

"…Just that I know nothing about girls and that they're totally psychotic." Scott was saying as Nora approached the lunch table where he and Stiles sat.

"Hey, I take offense to that." Nora said, sitting down at the table. "Actually, that's 100 percent true." She said, reconsidering.

"Okay, I came up with a plan B just in case anything like this happened." Stiles told the two.

"What's plan B?" Scott asked.

"Just steal the stupid thing." Stiles said.

"What are you stealing now?" Nora teased.

"Couldn't we at least try getting to Harris?" Scott whined.

"What about Harris?" She asked.

"My dad put him on a 24-hour protective detail, okay? The necklace is all we got. Steal it…thank you." Stiles replied, his voice tinged with slight annoyance.

"Why does Harris need protective detail? And what necklace?" Nora asked again, getting more irritated by the second.

"We had a busy night last night." Stiles began. "First off, Derek is alive. And we may or may not have helped him escape my dad and the Argent's in a car chase last night."

"Seriously?" Nora said. She leaned across the table and slapped Stiles on his chest. "You idiot!"

"Ow! Yeah, seriously." Stiles said, giving her an exasperated look before continuing. "Anyways, Derek thinks the Alpha wants Harris for something, we don't know what."

"And the necklace?"

"Derek's sister had a drawing of a symbol when she died. It's Allison's necklace. He thinks it's important." Stiles' face lit up as he thought of something. "Hey, you can ask to borrow it!"

"Uh, no. It's a family heirloom or something. Not exactly something you lend to people. She already thinks I'm hiding something – which I am, thanks to you guys." After the incident at the school, Allison wasn't too pleased that she had sided with Scott. The two girls avoided the subject of him entirely – it was just easier that way. Regardless, Allison was leery of Nora's secrets.

"Fine, sticking with plan B. Scott steals it." Stiles relented, shooting a look at Scott.

"So anything else new I should know about?" Nora asked. She was hoping there was nothing else. Things were already complicated enough.

"Jackson knows about me." Scott admitted sourly.

"What! How did he find out?"

"I have no idea. He just…he's watching us!" Scott yelped. Nora watched as Stiles and Scott attempted to avoid Jackson's gaze. After a moment, Scott's expression changed. His eyes bulged and he looked incredibly nervous.

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked his friend.

"Jackson's talking to me. He knows I can hear him…Look at me! Just talk to me. Act normal. Pretend that nothing's happening. Say something! Talk to me!" Scott replied.

"I can't think of anything. My mind's a complete blank!" Stiles cried, his arms flailing uncontrollably over his head.

"Your mind's blank? You can't think of something to say?" Nora couldn't believe it. Stiles almost _never_ stopped talking.

"Not under this kind of pressure!" The hyperactive boy retorted. "FYI, he's not even sitting with them anymore." He said to Scott. The three scanned the expanse of the cafeteria for Jackson. Nora spotted him near the vending machines. She could see his lips moving – he was still talking to Scott.

Stiles and Nora watched Scott as he listened to Jackson's taunts. He was visibly getting angrier with each second. "Yes." He growled in response to something Jackson said.

"Scott, come on. You can't let him do this. You can't let him have this kind of power over you. Okay?" Stiles said, but Scott wasn't listening. Whatever Jackson was saying was holding Scott's attention.

Scott's anger reached a peak. He let out an angry growl as the tray holding his lunch snapped into two, finally giving way to the pressure.

…

"Lydia, you okay? You're being awfully quiet." Nora asked as she shut her locker. Lydia, who usually had something to say, was eerily silent.

"Jackson broke up with me." Lydia admitted.

"WHAT?" Nora shouted in shock.

Lydia pulled out her cell phone and opened a text message. "_Lydia, please give up my spare house key at your earliest convenience as we are no longer dating._" She read.

"A fucking text message!" Nora cried. "That's how he does it. Oh my god, I'm going to kill him. I could make it look like an accident, you know. No one would suspect me. It'd be the perfect crime." She rambled on, plans already forming in her mind. "Okay, fine, I won't kill him. What do you need? Ice cream?" Nora relented, seeing Lydia's somber expression.

"Retail therapy. I need to go shopping." The strawberry blonde said. With that, Nora looped her arm through Lydia's and pulled her towards the school parking lot.

Beacons Hills, for being a small town, had a surprisingly nice mall. The girls hit up a few smaller clothing stores, before hitting the extravagant Macy's department store. It was several stories and Lydia's favorite. Lydia quickly began piling item after item onto her left arm; her right arm was already piled down with her previous purchases. Nora's selection of items was pathetic in comparison. Neither Sal nor Tanya made a lavish income, so Nora was always careful with the money they allowed her. Lydia, however, came from a rich family and could spend to her heart's content. Her frequently absent father had bestowed her with a magical piece of plastic that seemingly had no limit. It came in handy on days like this when only clothes and shoes could fill the breakage of Lydia's heart.

Nora's phone buzzed, alerting her of a new text message from Stiles. "_Hey, how well do you know Danny?_"

"_Decently, why do you ask?_" Nora sent back.

A few minutes later, she received his response. "_Nevermind, I figured it out. I'll talk to you after the lacrosse game. You're coming right?_"

"_Wouldn't miss it :)_" She responded, a real smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"What's got you so smiley?" Lydia asked, noticing.

"Oh, I just got a text from Stiles." Nora said nonchalantly.

"Ooo, how is lover boy?" Lydia teased.

"Lover boy?" Nora asked.

"Oh please, Nora, drop the act! I know you have a crush on him!" Lydia said with a smirk.

"I do not have a crush on Stiles!" Nora denied. She furrowed her brow in consideration. "I think…"

"You'd be cute together! You should see the way he looks at you. It's adorable."

Nora couldn't help but feel giddy by Lydia's words. She paused a moment. "I'm surprised you are encouraging this. Stiles isn't exactly on "_the same social tier_"" She said, using air quotes on the later part.

Lydia sighed. "Nora, you deserve someone who will treat you like a queen. From what I know of Stiles, he would definitely do that. Don't be like me and go for the asshole jock…" Nora looked at Lydia's sour expression with sympathy.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Even if I did like Stiles, which I'm not saying I do, it wouldn't matter. He has been in love with you since elementary school." Nora said

"That was before you started to pay attention to him." Lydia's sour expression turned a smug and knowing smirk.

…

"Hey Scott. Where's Stiles?" Nora asked. The lacrosse game would be starting soon and Stiles was nowhere to be seen.

"He's taking care of...um, something." Scott returned cryptically. Nora gave him a look before pulling out her cell phone and dialing Stiles' number.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Stiles, where are you? You're gonna miss your first game!" Nora told him.

"I know." He groaned. "I'm taking care of something."

"Do you need help?" Nora inquired.

"No, it's nothing." He said dismissively.

"Stiles, I really think I could help. Where are you?" She asked.

"The Hospital. Long term Care." Stiles relented.

"I'm on my way. Wait for me." She said, pulling her car keys out of her bag.

…

"Hey, so what are we doing here?" Nora asked as she got out of her car. Stiles was leaning up against his blue jeep, waiting for her. Derek Hale sat inside the jeep with his usual sour expression.

"Danny traced the text to Allison the night at the school. It came from a computer here." Stiles answered, pointing at the building. "…registered to Scott's mom." He finished.

"That can't be. It's got to be a mistake." She said.

"Yeah, let's go find her." He agreed and began walking towards the entrance to the hospital.

The long term care wing looked like the rest of the Beacon Hills Hospital, except it was much quieter. The patients here were terminally ill and primarily confided to their beds. Nora remembered the hospital her mother stayed at during her cancer treatment years ago. It was quiet there too, but there was always the steady beeping of heart monitors. Here, there was nothing. It was completely silent. Something was off about the silence. There was no nurse at the desk to greet them and all of the rooms appeared vacant.

"It doesn't look like she's here, Stiles." Nora said quietly. "Where is everybody?"

Stiles quickly dialed Derek and spoke into the phone. "I can't find her…" The faint sound of Derek's grumbling could be heard. "Yeah, I said I can't find her." Stiles repeated. Nora put her ear next to the phone to hear what Derek was saying.

"Ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle." Derek told them. Stiles and Nora approached another empty room. Nora pulled out the manila folder that was neatly tucked into a slot by the door. The label on the folder read "Peter Hale".

"Yeah well, he's not here either." Stiles said to Derek. "He's not here. He's gone, Derek."

Stiles face dropped, hearing Derek's response. He began to turn slowly to his right. Nora followed suit. The two were greeted by a man. He had terrible burns lining half of his face. Peter Hale.

"You must be Stiles. And who is this?" Peter said in a disgustingly sweet voice, his eyes shifting from Stiles to fall on Nora.

"What are you two doing here? Visiting hours are over." A woman said coldly from the opposite side of the hall. Her attire hinted that she was Jennifer, Peter's nurse.

"You… and him. You're the one who – oh, my – and he's—oh, my god, we're gonna die." Stiles mumbled incoherently.

Suddenly, Derek appeared out of nowhere and jammed an elbow into Jennifer's face. The nurse fell to ground unconscious with blood dripping from her nose.

"That's not nice. She's my nurse." Peter chided.

"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." Derek corrected. "Get out of the way." He said to Nora and Stiles.

"Ah, damn." Stiles said, ducking and pulling Nora down to the floor with him.

"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter asked. In response, Derek let out a fierce growl and lunged at his uncle. Peter grabbed him and pushed him against a wall for a beat, before throwing him against the opposite wall.

Stiles and Nora attempted to crawl away from the battle as Peter lifted Derek with one hand closed around his neck.

"My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct." Peter snarled as he dragged Derek by the neck down the hallway.

Peter then dropped Derek onto the floor. He laid in a crumpled pile while Peter retrieved a set of keys from Jennifer's unconscious body.

"You want forgiveness?" Derek said through gritted teeth as he pulled himself of the floor. Derek launched a powerful punch at Peter. Peter returned with a head-butt to Derek's face.

"I want understanding." Peter reasoned. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that."

Derek attempted several swings at Peter, but each one was deflected.

"I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you." Peter said evilly. He launched Derek through a window of glass surrounding the nurse's station.

Meanwhile, Stiles and Nora had taken cover behind a corner. Nora's arms were wrapped around Stiles' torso in a death grip.

"Stiles, we need to go." Nora said, releasing her hold on him. Stiles was still looking wide-eyed into the direction of Derek and Peter. They could still hear the muffled sounds of a struggle. If the past few minutes were any indication, Peter was winning. "We need to get out of here." She repeated. "We have to warn Scott."


End file.
